For months, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated he plans to proceed his long-shot problem towards President Biden in the Democratic main relatively than dropping out to launch a third-party bid.
But currently Mr. Kennedy’s message has appeared to shift, together with publicly telling a voter who requested about his plans that he was conserving his “options open.”
If Mr. Kennedy does resolve to depart the get together of his well-known father and uncles to run in the basic election, one potential touchdown spot could also be the Libertarian Party, which at the second lacks a broadly recognized candidate however has excelled at securing poll entry.
In July, Mr. Kennedy met privately with Angela McArdle, the chair of the Libertarian Party, at a convention they have been each attending in Memphis — a gathering that has not beforehand been reported.
“He emphasized that he was committed to running as a Democrat but said that he considered himself very libertarian,” Ms. McArdle stated in an interview, including that they agreed on a number of positions, together with the risk of the “deep state” and the want for populist messaging. “We’re aligned on a lot of issues.”
“My perspective is that we are going to stay in touch in case he does decide to run,” Ms. McArdle stated. “And he can contact me at any time if that’s the case.”
In a June interview with the libertarian journal Reason, Mr. Kennedy acknowledged his ideological disagreements with the get together — together with on points like environmental safety, abortion and civil rights — whereas additionally saying, “I’ve always been aligned with libertarians on most issues.”
In a basic election, Democrats fear {that a} third-party run by Mr. Kennedy might draw votes away from Mr. Biden and assist elect former President Donald J. Trump. They have expressed comparable issues about No Labels, the bipartisan group making an attempt to recruit a reasonable candidate for a third-party run, and likewise about the progressive scholar Cornel West, who’s already in the race to steer the Green Party’s ticket for 2024.
Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the centrist Democratic group Third Way, has been serving to coordinate Democratic efforts to cease the No Labels effort. He stated the hope in the get together has been that Mr. Kennedy would “go away” after shedding primaries to Mr. Biden.
“It would be very bad” if Mr. Kennedy runs as a Libertarian, Mr. Bennett stated. “We’ve been very clear that third parties in close elections can be very dangerous and would almost certainly hurt the president. That would be true of a No Labels candidate and it would be true of R.F.K.”
Dennis Kucinich, Mr. Kennedy’s marketing campaign supervisor, stated there was “no truth” to the concept that Mr. Kennedy might run as a Libertarian. He stated the assembly with Ms. McArdle merely provided “further proof of Mr. Kennedy’s appeal across the political spectrum.”
“We have not sought the favor of any other political party,” Mr. Kucinich stated.
Ms. McArdle stated that the assembly, at the libertarian FreedomFest conference, had been requested by Heal the Divide, a pro-Kennedy tremendous PAC, and that she spoke with Mr. Kennedy for almost an hour however had not had additional conferences. He individually met with different leaders of the libertarian motion at the convention, she added.
Mr. Kennedy, who is probably greatest recognized for his conspiracy theories about the security of vaccines, would doubtless change into a favourite to win the Libertarian nomination given his nationwide identify recognition.
In the Democratic main, Mr. Kennedy is trailing Mr. Biden by roughly 50 factors, in accordance with 538’s nationwide polling common, and his bid towards the incumbent president isn’t seen as aggressive. He has argued that Mr. Biden’s allies at the Democratic National Committee try to squeeze him out of the race, together with by transferring to carry the get together’s first main in the Biden-friendly state of South Carolina.
In previous feedback, Mr. Kennedy dedicated to sticking with the get together lengthy recognized with the Kennedy clan. Late final month, Mr. Kennedy informed Fox News that his mission was to “summon the Democratic Party back to its traditional ideals.”
But extra just lately, Mr. Kennedy has appeared to trace that might change. In response to a South Carolina voter’s query this month about whether or not he would launch an unbiased bid, Mr. Kennedy stated the D.N.C. is “trying to make sure that I can’t participate at all in the political process, and so I’m going to keep all my options open,” in accordance with ABC News.
Surveys have proven {that a} rising variety of Americans are sad with each main political events. But they’ve additionally expressed little urge for food for third events.
In 2016, the reasonable Gary Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, and his working mate, former Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts, obtained 3.3 % of the fashionable vote. That was the greatest efficiency by a third-party ticket since Ross Perot ran on the Reform Party poll in 1996.
In an interview on Friday, Mr. Johnson stated he thought Mr. Kennedy would possibly wrestle to win over Libertarian voters given that he’s now a Democrat. But he stated he would favor Mr. Kennedy over each the present and former presidents in a basic election, ought to all of them win their respective nominating contests.
“If Kennedy manages to get through the process and become the Libertarian nominee, I’d vote for him in a heartbeat,” Mr. Johnson stated, “because he’s not Biden and he’s not Trump.”
Reid J. Epstein contributed reporting from Washington. Kirsten Noyes contributed analysis.
