Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has officially filed to run in the 2024 presidential election as a Democrat.
Kennedy, 69, is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of former U.S. Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968.
Kennedy’s statement of candidacy was filed with the Federal Election Commission on April 5. He has yet to issue a formal announcement of his candidacy.
That announcement will be made at Boston Park on April 19, according to campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear, per The Washington Post.
Right-wing political commentator Michael Knowles said during his Thursday podcast that Kennedy makes for “an interesting candidate” who has “a lot of cred on both sides of the aisle.”
“He’s a well-established environmental lawyer. He’s a Kennedy. … He is a lib[eral] on a ton of issues,” Knowles explained. “But, he’s a huge critic of vaccines.”
For several years, Kennedy has taken a stance critical of vaccines.
Last January, he received blowback after apparently comparing those who declined the COVID-19 vaccine to Jews living in Nazi Germany.
“Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,” he said during a rally in Washington, D.C. Kennedy then added that “mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run and none of us can hide.”
His statements were condemned by the Anti-Defamation League and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, after which Kennedy issued an apology.
However, some have continued to support Kennedy’s views on vaccines.
Knowles also explained that “during COVID, when the medical establishment lied to us about the efficacy and safety of the vaccines, all of a sudden, a lot of conservatives started to pay attention to RFK Jr.”
“In fact, RFK Jr. started making appearances predominately on conservative shows,” he noted. “So he will be running as a Democrat … against the corruption in the Democrat party.”
The only other official Democratic challenger to President Joe Biden at this time is Marianne Williamson, who also ran in the 2020 Democratic primary.