Kennedy family endorses Biden in rebuke to RFK Jr.

Fifteen members of the storied Kennedy political family endorsed US President Joe Biden at a Philadelphia campaign event, with some joining him onstage, in a rebuke of Robert F. Kennedy Jr's independent bid for office.

"I don't want to become emotional, but what an incredible honour to have the support of the Kennedy family," Biden, 81, said on Thursday after 15 members of a politically storied family backed the Democrat against Donald Trump.

"I can only imagine how Donald Trump's outrageous lies and behaviour would have horrified my father, Robert F. Kennedy," Robert F. Kennedy Jr's younger sister Kerry Kennedy said at the Biden campaign event, calling Trump the most "anti-democratic president ever."

"Daddy stood for equal justice, human rights, and freedom from want and fear. Just as President Biden does today."

"A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for our democracy and our decency," Kerry Kennedy added.

She did not mention her candidate brother in her speech.

She added that she and her family were at the event because they felt obligated to do all they could to support Biden's campaign.

Kennedy family members are then expected to join local volunteers in door-knocking and phone-banking on Biden's behalf, campaign aides said.

RFK Jr.'s response

Robert F. Kennedy Jr — also known as RFK Jr. —said on social media platform X that he had heard some of his family was endorsing Biden.

"I am pleased they are politically active - it's a family tradition," he wrote.

"We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other."

Kennedy, son of the slain US senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, made his name as an environmental lawyer, before becoming known as an anti-vaccine advocate with an eclectic mix of political views.

He is backed by 15 percent of registered voters, versus 39 percent for Biden and 38 percent for Trump, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Many in his elite family — prominent Democrats since the 19th century — have broken with him over his views.

'Stalking horse' for Trump

For its part, the Democratic National Committee has emphasised donations supporting RFK Jr.'s candidacy from billionaire Timothy Mellon, a major MAGA Inc. donor, pushing the concept that Kennedy Jr. is a "stalking horse" for Trump.

That differs from the approach of those supporting Trump, including the Make America Great Again Inc super PAC, which has aimed to paint RFK Jr. as a "leftist radical."

The efforts by the two parties underscore concerns they both have that Kennedy could take votes away from their candidate.

In his 2007 book "Promises to Keep," Biden describes himself as moved to get into public service by the Kennedy brothers and the activist Martin Luther King Jr., "swept up in their eloquence, their conviction, the sheer size of their improbable dreams."

A bust of President Kennedy sits in the Oval Office. When Biden was later elected to Congress, fellow Senator Ted Kennedy would become one of his closest friends. Ted, John and Robert Sr. were brothers.