Originally published September 12, 2023 4:00 pm PDT
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is claiming the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is aiming to shut down his presidential campaign.
QUICK FACTS:
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the DNC is trying to stop his efforts to challenge President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential race.
- “Unfortunately, it appears that the DNC has created a class of pledged delegates, called Party Leaders and Elected Officials (PLEOs), who are essentially the same as super delegates, due to the amount of control the party exercises over elected officials,” Kennedy’s campaign manager, Dennis Kucinich, said.
- “This puts the DNC, once again, in the position of overturning the will of voters across the United States. It is unclear how overturning the nation’s majority vote could be interpreted as trusting the people,” he continued.
- The campaign claimed the DNC’s proposed reordering of state primaries to punish states that did not vote blue in 2020 “would discount the votes of millions of Americans and limit the ballot access of millions more to mail-in voting only.”
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. ON THE DNC ATTEMPTING TO STOP HIS CAMPAIGN:
“There’s some really wild things that they’re now considering, including forcing me to actually pay for primaries,” Kennedy said. “And their logic is that they don’t need a primary because they already have a candidate.”
BACKGROUND:
- In September 2023, Democratic presidential candidate RFK Jr. challenged Biden to prove that he is mentally and physically fit for office by facing him in a primary debate.
- “President Biden could put to rest any concerns about his fitness for office by engaging me in a vigorous, issues-oriented debate. Let’s end the speculation and let the voters see for themselves,” Kennedy said in a tweet.
- Questions about Biden’s ability to serve a second term are being asked with greater urgency, not just by the Republican opposition, but also by journalists and a small number of Democrats.
- The White House press corps have posed questions to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about whether Biden is too old to serve, questions that she has dismissed, without dispelling the concerns behind them.
