Yahoo News Kennedy Family Endorses Biden Over RFK Jr
Members of the Kennedy family endorsed Joe Biden for re-election during a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, April 18.
Footage posted to Biden’s official YouTube channel shows Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, niece of former President John F Kennedy, and sister of the current presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr, delivering the endorsement, calling Biden “my hero” at Thursday’s event.
“We want to make crystal-clear our feelings that the best way forward for America is to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for four more years,” she said.
Playing down the endorsement, Independant candidate Robert Kennedy Jr wrote on X that his family was “divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.” He said his campaign was about “healing America.” Credit: Joe Biden via Storyful
Video transcript
- Please join me in giving a resounding applause and welcome to the Kennedy family, followed by our president, Joe Biden.
[APPLAUSE, CHEERING]
KERRY KENNEDY: Thank you, John, for those inspiring words. My name is Kerry Kennedy, and I am the seventh child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy.
[APPLAUSE]
I'm joined here today with my sisters, Kathleen and Rory, with Joe, and Chris, and Max.
[APPLAUSE]
And with my hero, President Joe Biden.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
President Biden has said very movingly that his long career in public service was prompted by a speech my father, Robert Kennedy, gave in Indianapolis on April 4, 1968, the night Martin Luther King was murdered. Two days later, along with my parents and siblings, I sat in the den of our home in northern Virginia and watched in horror as Washington burned. Daddy left the room, and he got in his car.
Maybe 15 minutes later, we were all still glued to the TV. And suddenly, Daddy was on the news in the midst of the mayhem, trying to put out the flames of loss and pain, fear and rage in the wake of Dr. King's death. That was an incredible lesson to me as an eight-year-old child. He showed us that when everyone else is running away from the flames of anguish and despair, leaders run towards them. And that's who Joe Biden is.
[APPLAUSE, CHEERING]
He is the first sitting president in our history who has traveled to an active war zone not under US control, not once but twice, to show support for our allies. He was always running into the flames so we don't have to. In--
[APPLAUSE]
In every imaginable way, President Biden has spent his presidency and his career running into the flames for working people, for moms, dads, families. He supports unions, a passion of my father's. He marched with the United Auto Workers during their righteous strike, which helped bring that strike to a swift end. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
He looks out-- he looks out for teachers, nurses, truck drivers, gig workers. He has been tireless on relieving the debt incurred by middle and working class kids trying to get ahead by getting an education. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
He passed the infrastructure bill. He builds bridges. He has made the working American the hero of every story. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
He got inflation under control. And violent crime is down in America under Joe Biden's leadership. He has us thriving again, believing again, behaving like good neighbors again. He stepped into the flames of chaos and turned it into community. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
We want to make crystal clear our feeling that the best way forward for America is to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to four more years.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
- Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
KERRY KENNEDY: President Biden has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncle stood for. That's why nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden.
[APPLAUSE, CHEERING]
That's right. That's right. The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
When Daddy announced his bid for the presidency in 1968, he talked about the perilous course our country would take under the wrong leadership. And he said, "I feel obliged to do all that I can. I cannot stand aside." We are here because we feel obliged to do all that we can. We cannot stand aside. In this election, no American can stand aside. We must vote.
[APPLAUSE]
In 2024, there are only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency. We know them well. Four years ago, our country was crippled by COVID-- excuse me, chaos and the effects of unprincipled leadership. Four years later, thanks to Joe Biden, we are enjoying an unprecedented economic expansion, with more people working than at any time in our history. Over 15 million new jobs have been created, almost 800,000 manufacturing jobs. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
Wages are up. Inflation caused by once-in-a-generation pandemic is coming down. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
He's made vast investments in historically Black colleges and universities to create more access to opportunity. He has appointed more Black women to circuit courts than every other president combined.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
And put Ketanji Brown Jackson on the Supreme Court. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
He rebuilt the refugee program that was decimated by his predecessor and brought together a coalition of world leaders to stop Russian aggression in Ukraine. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[APPLAUSE, CHEERING]
We're standing here in the Martin Luther King Recreation Center for Children. As family members who lost our father, let us not forget that President Biden has always advocated for the rights of people to live, to play, and to go to school in communities free of gun violence. He signed the most significant bipartisan gun safety legislation in 30 years. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[APPLAUSE, CHEERING]
As Donald Trump proudly brags about overturning Roe v. Wade, rolling back the clock 50 years to when women couldn't make our own health care decisions, President Biden is fighting to get our freedoms back. Thank you, Joe Biden.
[APPLAUSE, CHEERING]
This is only part of the very long list of freedoms and rights that President Biden is protecting during a period of constant assault. Make no mistake-- all these rights and freedoms are on the ballot in November. Donald Trump is running to take us backwards, attacking the most basic rights and freedoms that are at the core of who we are as Americans.
He said he will be a dictator on day one, even saying he wants to suspend the Constitution so he can go after his enemies, after his critics, after the press. He is running to use his power to punish his enemies, silence his opponents, and incite more chaos, division, and political violence with his extreme agenda. He is the most anti-democratic president in American history.
[APPLAUSE]
President Trump spews dangerous conspiracy theories on climate change, vaccines, windmills, and voter fraud. He is pledging to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut Social Security and Medicare, ripping away health care and earned benefits for millions of Americans who rely on them in their retirement.
I can only imagine how Donald Trump's outrageous lies and behavior would have horrified my father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who proudly served as the attorney general of the United States and honored his pledge to uphold the law and protect the country. Daddy stood for equal justice, for human rights, and freedom from want and fear, just as President Biden does today.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
Donald Trump mocks these values, just as he mocks our system of laws. He predicted a bloodbath if he loses the election. We cannot afford to ignore his warning. We can say today with no less urgency that our rights and freedoms are once again in peril. This is why we all need to come together in a campaign that could unite not only Democrats but all Americans, including Republicans and independents who believe in what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. A vote--
[APPLAUSE]
A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for our democracy and our decency.
[APPLAUSE]
It is a vote for what my father called in his own presidential announcement in 1968 our right to the moral leadership of this planet. As President Biden remembers, when Dr. King died, Daddy addressed a crowd organized by John Lewis in the largest Black community in Indianapolis.
And on that terrible night, he said, "What we need in the United States is not division. What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but love and wisdom and compassion toward one another and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer in this country, whether they be Black or they be white."
Joe Biden's every decision is informed by his love, his wisdom, and his compassion towards those who suffer. That is why we are so happy today to pledge our unwavering support to President Joe Biden and President Kamala Harris. God bless all of you. God bless America. And please welcome President Joe Biden.
[APPLAUSE, CHEERING]
JOE BIDEN: Thank you. Please have a seat, if you have one. Mom and Dad, I hope you were listening. What an incredible honor. What an incredible honor. I don't want to become emotional, but what an incredible honor to have the support of the Kennedy family.
