Hours after President Joe Biden announced that he would no longer seek reelection, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. commended him for stepping down and encouraged the Democratic Party to have an “open process” in selecting his replacement.
In a July 21 news conference at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy told reporters that he entered the race partly because of President Biden’s “abandonment of Democratic Party principles” and to “ensure American voters had a viable, vigorous alternative to Donald Trump.”
Mr. Kennedy accused the Democratic National Committee (DNC) of running interference for President Biden and “[disabling] democracy to ram him through to his party’s nomination.”
“Many Americans fear that the same DNC elites are about to rig the nominating process again,“ Mr. Kennedy said. ”I call on the Democratic Party to return to its traditional commitment to democracy and exemplify it with an open process.”
He urged the Democratic Party to use “neutral polling to identify the candidate who can best beat Donald Trump” instead of “anointing a candidate hand-picked by DNC elites.”
“If they had done this to begin with, I would not have had to leave the Democratic Party,” Mr. Kennedy said.
On July 21, President Biden said in a statement that it was “in the best interest of [his] party and the country” for him to stand down in the campaign.
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” President Biden wrote.
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice president. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats—it’s time to come together and beat Trump.”
Mr. Kennedy initially ran for the Democratic Party nomination. After encountering multiple roadblocks from the DNC and claiming that the organization was “rigging the primary” to favor President Biden and prevent other candidates from competing, he chose to run as an independent in October 2023.
Democrats and Republicans alike have expressed concern that Mr. Kennedy could take away votes from their respective presidential candidates.
Earlier this year, the DNC announced the creation of a team to counter third-party and independent presidential candidates.
In recent months, the DNC and Clear Choice, a super PAC aligned with President Biden to counter third-party presidential candidates, have objected to Mr. Kennedy’s appearance on the ballot, making legal filings in multiple states.
Mr. Kennedy praised President Biden for his career in public service and then went on to again criticize the DNC as well as former President Trump, whom he said failed to “drain the swamp,” as promised.
Last week, former President Trump said that he would consider Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, as his Treasury secretary if he wins the election, a point that Mr. Kennedy mentioned in the news conference.
Mr. Kennedy also chastised former President Trump for his choice of freshman Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate.
Mr. Kennedy said the Trump–Vance ticket would “give us a president that represents corporate interests rather than the interests of the American public.”
Mr. Kennedy has said multiple times since entering the race that one of his key objectives if he is elected president will be combatting what he deems is the corruption of federal government agencies.
President Biden and former President Trump are “different people” with different personalities, but they are mutually responsible for issues such as the escalating national debt, he said.
Mr. Kennedy said the national debt, which reached $34 trillion earlier this year, is “now greater than our military budget” and that “within five years, 50 cents out of every dollar that we collect in taxes will go to servicing that debt.”
“This is not sustainable,” he said, adding that both of the most recent presidents have helped push the national debt to unsustainable levels.
Mr. Kennedy, who is in the midst of a quest to get on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, said at the news conference that he has submitted enough signatures to gain ballot access in 29 states.
“I believe I can win this election. I believe at this point it’s a two-man or two-person race, and I’m in the best position to win,” he said.
When asked if he would consider the Democratic Party nomination if the party approached him, Mr. Kennedy told reporters that he would listen but that he plans to remain an independent presidential candidate.
If he had stayed in the Democratic presidential primary, he said, he would “be in the same position as” Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and Marianne Williamson, which is on the sideline.
The Trump campaign and the DNC didn’t reply to The Epoch Times’ requests for comment by publication time.
