Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democrat now running as an independent candidate for president, is facing a barrage of criticism from his former colleagues for undermining President Joe Biden’s election chances.
Democrats fear that liberal voters who are fed up with Biden will flock to Kennedy — a bombshell that would upend the 2024 election.
Despite his claims that he would be the “best environment president in American history,” dozens of Kennedy’s former colleagues at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) — where Kennedy served as an environmental lawyer for many years — are urging him to withdraw from the race, afraid that his candidacy will help former President Donald J. Trump return to the White House.
In a series of full-page newspaper ads set to run in six swing states, NRDC’s political arm and its past and current leaders, including co-founder John Hamilton Adams, implore Kennedy to “Honor our planet, drop out.”
The group complained that a vote for Kennedy is essentially a vote for Trump, who has repeatedly questioned climate change and environmental lobbyists.
Separately, a dozen environmental organizations have penned an open letter slamming Kennedy to Democratic voters. They called him a “dangerous conspiracy theorist and a science denier” who promotes “toxic beliefs.”
Former colleagues, such as Dan Reicher from Stanford University’s Woods Institute for Environment and Gina McCarthy, the former EPA administrator for former President Barack Obama, have also urged Kennedy to drop out and endorse Biden.
Kennedy, who served as a senior attorney for the NRDC for nearly three decades, has pushed back against the notion that his candidacy could help Trump.
Instead, he has criticized Biden and the environmental movement for settling for “crumbs” from the current administration.
Kennedy’s views on climate change are unconventional among liberals; while he acknowledges the warming planet, he opposes a “war on carbon” and believes free markets will solve the climate crisis.
The rebuke from the environmental community comes on the heels of an endorsement of Biden by members of the Kennedy family.
Meanwhile, Trump allies have been exploring ways to elevate third-party candidates like Kennedy in battleground states to divert votes away from Biden.
Trump leads Biden in almost every poll in recent weeks, and his lead is greater in battleground states. According to RealClearPolitics polling averages, Trump has a 2.8 point average advantage in swing states.
As the 2024 presidential race heats up, the environmental community’s fear of Kennedy’s candidacy underscores the high stakes involved in the upcoming election – and the disarray facing Biden’s campaign.
Stephen Dietrich is the Publisher of The Horn News