Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped his Democratic bid for president Monday, coming to Philadelphia to announce that he would instead seek the White House as an independent.
Political prognosticators were already doing the math before Kennedy made his announcement in front of a crowd of supporters on Independence Mall.
But none of that adds up to solution with Kennedy as the 47th president of The United States of America.
Rather, the odds are being calculated on whether Kennedy's independent run helps or hurts President Joe Biden as he runs for a second term, or former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination. In key swing states like Pennsylvania, an independent candidate could have a significant impact on the result of the presidential race.
Kennedy declared his campaign independent of Wall Street, big tech, big pharma, big ag, military contractors, lobbyists, "the mercenary media" and the two-party system."
"In a polarized country it's easy for corrupt powers to manipulate and to control and to strip the wealth, its freedoms, its equity, its dignity," he said Monday as supporters cheered and held "Kennedy 24″ signs.
Kennedy can expect serious scrutiny from the Democratic Party as he tries to get his name listed on 2024′s presidential ballot.
Democrats learned a lasting lesson in 2016, when Jill Stein ran as the Green Party's nominee, winning 49,941 in Pennsylvania, where Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton by 44,292 votes.
The Democrats were ready in 2020, exploiting Green Party miscues in Pennsylvania's processes to become a candidate, winning a legal challenge that r
While Kennedy has been running as a Democrat , when he infused his campaign announcement with . That stance — and others — makes him seem more welcome on the conservative end of the political spectrum than in the Democratic Party.
The Conservative Political Action Committee, known as CPAC, that Kennedy would be among the "key influencers" speaking at one of the group's conferences next week, along with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon who is , and Kari Lake, who refused to accept in Arizona's race for governor.
CPAC chair Matt Schlapp cast Kennedy's appearance as "a reflection of the splintering of the left-wing coalition that has gone full woke Marxist to the point that traditionally liberals don't feel welcome anymore."
Kennedy had been scheduled to speak in Philadelphia over the summer at a national summit held by Moms For Liberty, a hard-right conservative group that in public schools. He , citing a schedule conflict.
A super PAC supporting Kennedy, American Values 2024, has raised $9.8 million this year, with $5 million coming from Timothy Mellon, an that amassed a fortune in banking and other industries.
Mellon's used racial stereotypes and claimed social welfare programs make Black people "even more belligerent." He contributed $20 million in 2020 to a political action committee trying to help Trump win a second term and another $1.5 million to a pro-Trump super PAC last October.
Kennedy spent most of 2023 in a political Goldilocks zone, taking no criticism from the president he wants to unseat or the former president he wants to prevent from returning to the White House.
In Biden's world, talking about Kennedy just gives his campaign more air.
Trump, who always like a good ego stroking, a back-and-forth with Kennedy.
That has left Kennedy and his campaign to largely be a creature of media coverage — good and bad, focused either on the storied branding of his last name or on the odd and controversial things he's said.
