On Tuesday, after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Nicole Shanahan as his presidential running mate, Democrats melted down about the real possibility of the rival ticket siphoning votes from Joe Biden, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Democrats Rage Over RFK Jr. Campaign in DNC Callhttps://t.co/hxGlcGeecC
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 27, 2024
“I am personally offended and just disgusted by [Kennedy’s] campaign,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said in a call hosted by the Democratic National Committee. “He should be ashamed of himself. He should stop running for president.”
Pennsylvania’s leftist Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis (D) had a similar reaction. He said Kennedy was working as “a spoiler” and argued he was “drafted into this race by Donald Trump’s top supporters” and “has no realistic path to victory in Pennsylvania.”
Davis did not offer evidence to support his claims.
Democratic officials from swing states called the DNC meeting after Kennedy fueled his independent White House with the Tuesday announcement that his running mate would be Shanahan, a California attorney who donated $4 million to Kennedy’s campaign for Super Bowl advertising.
Establishment Democrats have tried to pay little attention to Kennedy during most of the 2024 presidential cycle. Recently, however, because Biden’s polling is in the pits for an incumbent president, Democrats in his orbit have allotted resources to weaken Kennedy’s campaign and paint him as a tool for Trump.
What was once an engineered indifference has morphed into anguish and anger. The impending reality of a Biden-Trump rematch caused Democrats to examine if Kennedy’s political run might create an unfavorable outcome for their party’s chances come November.
For his part, Kennedy maintains that he “wants his party back” from the likes of big pharma and neo-con warmongers.
Executive vice president for public affairs of the Democratic group Third Way Matt Bennett made the Democrat position clear in a statement, “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Nicole Shanahan have only one chance of seeing the inside of the Oval Office: if Trump wins and invites them in to say thank you.”
Pro-Trump Republicans have their eyes on Kennedy as well due to concerns the Independent candidate could pull some votes from the Trump ticket.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a far-left radical that supports reparations, backs the Green New Deal, and wants to ban fracking. It’s no surprise he would pick a Biden donor leftist as his running mate,” super PAC spokesperson for Make America Great Again Inc. Alex Pfeiffer sounded off in a statement.
Both Biden’s and Trump’s allies are worried about Kennedy because he has a good amount of support in the polls. Kennedy has hovered around low to mid-double digits during his campaign, a significant amount that could disrupt the other candidates.
The question is which one, Biden or Trump, fears Kennedy the most.
