Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is polling higher than any third-party presidential candidate in decades. What does he stand for?
How did Kennedy land here?
RFK Jr., as he's often called, is a scion of America's most famous political dynasty. His uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated when RFK Jr. was 9; his father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated five years later while running for president. The third of 11 children, RFK Jr. was seen by many as an heir to their charisma and political gifts. He was "looked to as the one to carry that mantle," said RFK Jr. biographer Dick Russell. But Kennedy, now 70, had a troubled youth, marked by drug abuse and expulsion from two elite prep schools. He used heroin while attending Harvard University and University of Virginia School of Law but got sober after a 1983 arrest for possession and embarked on a prominent career as an environmental lawyer. As leader of the organizations Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance, he was lauded for helping clean up New York's Hudson River and other waterways by suing corporate polluters. The next phase of his career, as the nation's leading anti-vaxxer, would prove more divisive.
What led him to focus on vaccines?
As he traveled the U.S. speaking about mercury contamination from coal-fired power plants, Kennedy has said, mothers would approach him and talk about their child's autism — and their conviction that it was caused by a mercury-based preservative in vaccines. He grew convinced of the link and in 2005 wrote an article for Rolling Stone and Salon positing the connection. It was later retracted for its many inaccuracies, but Kennedy was just getting started. In 2016, he launched Children's Health Defense, which became the nation's largest anti-vaccine organization, receiving nearly $24 million in contributions, grants, and other revenue in 2022. As leader, Kennedy has vociferously promoted his view — repeatedly debunked by scientific studies — that vaccines cause autism and other woes, and that the pharmaceutical industry and government regulators are lying about their effects. Former colleagues and friends say RFK Jr.'s self-confidence makes him almost immune to criticism. "He believes in whatever he says," said Mark Green, a former New York City public advocate. And Kennedy's anti-scientific beliefs only grew when Covid-19 hit.
How did he react to the pandemic?
Kennedy went to war against Covid containment measures and vaccines. He called the lifesaving shots "the deadliest vaccine ever made" and claimed U.S. vaccine mandates were more repressive than anti-Jewish laws under the Nazis. "Even in Hitler's Germany," he said in a 2022 speech, "you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did." RFK Jr. told a congressional committee last summer that he had "never been anti-vax." But that same month he said in a podcast interview, "There's no vaccine that is safe and effective," and repeated in a Fox News appearance his belief that vaccines cause autism. RFK Jr. "undercuts 50 years of public health vaccine practice, and he's done it in a way I've never seen anyone else do it," said infectious-disease expert Michael Osterholm. "He is among the most dangerous because of the credibility of who he is and what his family name has brought to this issue."
Does he hold other fringe views?
Plenty. At a press event last summer, RFK Jr. said Covid-19 may have been "ethnically targeted" to "attack Caucasians and Black people" and that the "people most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese." After a backlash, Kennedy said reports of his comments — caught on video — were "mistaken." He has said the 2004 election was stolen, that chemicals in drinking water are causing gender dysphoria, and that antidepressants are to blame for school shootings. Wi-Fi signals cause cancer and "leaky brain," according to Kennedy, while 5G technology is being used to "harvest our data and control our behavior." He's argued that Palestinian terrorist Sirhan Sirhan was framed for his father's 1968 assassination, even though dozens of people saw Sirhan open fire on Robert F. Kennedy. Such views, and especially his anti-vax activism, have led many Kennedys to publicly rebuke RFK Jr. and his candidacy. "It's so heartbreaking," said sister Kerry, one of more than a dozen family members who publicly endorsed Joe Biden's re-election last month.
What is he campaigning on?
He's cast himself as a "Kennedy Democrat," repeatedly invoking his father and uncle and declaring his support for labor unions, low interest government-backed mortgages, a $15 minimum wage, and other policies to boost a middle class he says is under "systematic attack." He's said he'd "seal the border permanently" and negotiate an end to the Ukraine war, which he's called "unnecessary." But Kennedy has built his campaign less on issues than on a conspiratorial view that the government, corporations, and the media are engaged in a shadowy plot to erode rights and muzzle dissent. His "mission," he said in his campaign kickoff speech, is to "end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country."
What are his prospects?
Virtually nobody believes Kennedy — backed by 11.7 percent of voters, according to the RealClearPolitics polling aggregator — can win. But he has the potential to tip a tight race between two unpopular candidates, although which way is unclear. Some analysts say his conspiratorial views will draw more Trump voters, others that the Kennedy name will lure more Democrats. Amid wavering polls that give no definite answer, Kennedy's spoiler potential has made him a source of intense focus for both campaigns. "Any amount that RFK Jr. takes from either candidate is a danger to them and could flip the election," said political scientist Bernard Tamas. "It's an enormous uncertainty."
RFK Jr.'s 'lust demons'
Along with good looks and charisma, RFK Jr. has seemingly inherited a less savory trait attributed to his father and uncle: a penchant for womanizing. At Harvard, "there was a steady stream of girls through his dorm room," one former classmate said. And there's evidence that Kennedy — a father of seven who married his third wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines, in 2014 — strayed extensively in his first two marriages. Exhibit A is a pair of diaries kept by Kennedy that were handed to the New York Post following the 2012 suicide of his second wife, Mary Richardson. Richardson's family has blamed her death on Kennedy's "emotional and psychological abuse." The 2001 diaries, whose validity Kennedy hasn't contested, logged scores of trysts — including three in one day — and ranked 37 women from 1 to 10. He called sex acts "muggings" and spoke of his angst at being unable to resist feminine charms. "My greatest defect," Kennedy wrote, "was my lust demons."