Robert Kennedy Jr is contesting as an independent in the US Presidential elections. (File)
President Joe Biden and former US President Donald Trump will face each other in the upcoming Presidential Election. But apart from the two, a few independent hopefuls are also in the running.
An anti-vaccine activist, Robert Kennedy Jr is contesting as an independent after initially challenging President Biden for the Democratic nomination. He announced his presidential bid last year in April.
Who is Robert Kennedy Jr?
- Mr Kennedy is the nephew of the 35th US President John F Kennedy and son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. It must be noted that RFK served as attorney general under Democratic President JFK and later as a US Senator from New York.
- Coming from an illustrious political family, Mr Kennedy “was a lifelong Democrat” but after witnessing the party drifting away from its traditional values in 2010, he became increasingly estranged, according to his official website. On October 9, 2023, he announced his candidacy for the US Elections.
- Robert Kennedy Jr’s public service career began in 1985 as an attorney for the environmental non-profit organisation RiverKeeper.
- The 70-year-old eventually became one of the most influential environmentalists in the country. He also received TIME Magazine’s “Hero of the Planet” and the Sartisky Peace Award.
- Mr Kennedy, who worked for decades as an environmental lawyer, has been known since 2005 for promoting conspiracy theories about vaccines. The theories link them to the development of autism.
- Mr Kennedy is expected to tap California attorney and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, claims the New York Post citing Mediaite. It may be noted that Nicole Shanahan is a Democrat donor and ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The report added that Shanahan also funded Kennedy’s pricey Super Bowl campaign commercial.