Biden receives Kennedy family endorsement in Philadelphia

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Martin Luther King Recreation Center on April 18, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. U.S. President Joe Biden is on a multi-city tour of the battleground state of Pennsylvania where he renewed calls to increase taxes on wealthy Americans and large corporations. | Drew Hallowell/Getty Images

PHILADELPHIA — Standing alongside several members of the Kennedy family, President Joe Biden celebrated their support for his campaign on Thursday, a rebuke of their relative, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who continues his campaign as an independent candidate for president.

“What an incredible honor,” Biden said at the beginning of a 10-minute speech at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center. “I don’t want to become emotional, but what an incredible honor to have the support of the Kennedy family.”

Biden is the second Irish Catholic to serve as president and has often cited President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy as the inspiration for his career in public service.

Biden said on Thursday when he sits behind the resolute desk, where Kennedy once sat, he looks at the busts of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., another hero of his, and thinks what they would do in difficult situations.

Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, lauded Biden as “a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncle stood for,” on Thursday.

“​​That’s why nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden,” Kennedy said.

She said that Biden has spent his career “running into the flames” for Americans, adding that the rights of Americans were on the line in the election.

“I can only imagine how Donald Trump’s outrageous lies and behavior would have horrified my father, Sen. 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,” Kennedy said in Philadelphia. “Daddy stood for equal justice for human rights and freedom from want and fear, just as President Biden does today.”

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. responded to the news of the Kennedy family’s Biden endorsement in a social media post Thursday, saying he was “pleased they are politically active — it’s a family tradition. We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.”

In October, Kennedy launched his independent campaign for president in Philadelphia.

The Biden press event came on the same day that Kennedy announced he will be on the ballot in Michigan and other states as the nominee for the Natural Law Party.

Kerry Kennedy took a not-so-subtle jab at the chances of her brother’s presidential campaign on Thursday.

“​​In 2024, there are only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency,” Kerry Kennedy said, referring to Biden and former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee.

Biden spoke about the role that the assassinations of his political heroes, Kennedy and King, had on him and the country. The country now faces  another inflection point, he added.

“The 2024 election is about two fundamentally different visions for America,” Biden said. “Donald Trump’s vision is one of anger, hate, revenge, and retribution.”

“I have a very different view of America,” Biden added. “One of hope and optimism like I hope all of you do.”

Before Biden’s arrival, protesters were one street away from the venue in North Philadelphia chanting “blood on your hands.” One person was escorted from inside the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center an hour before Biden’s speech, claiming he had a “right to be there.”

Following his brief remarks, Biden and former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) met with campaign volunteers and later made a stop at a nearby Wawa with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, before heading back to the airport.

The Philadelphia stop wraps up Biden’s week in the Keystone State. He kicked off the three-day visit Tuesday with a speech in his childhood hometown of Scranton, and made his first appearance of the year in western Pennsylvania on Wednesday, rallying with United Steelworkers and making a pit stop at Sheetz.

The four previous visits from Biden in Pennsylvania in 2024 were in the southeast. It’s a densely populated region of the commonwealth where Democrats hold a significant voter registration advantage over Republicans and where Biden outpaced Trump in 2020.

State Rep. Tarik Khan (D-Philadelphia) told the Capital-Star in an interview on Thursday that the decision between Biden and Trump is one of “freedom vs tyranny,” and said abortion access is a topic he hears often amongst constituents for the upcoming election.

“Our last president had appointed three Supreme Court justices that have worked to take away the right for a woman to make her own abortion decisions,” Khan said.

The issues of democracy, abortion, and the economy are themes that Biden has driven home in multiple appearances in the Keystone State. On Jan. 5, Biden delivered a passionate address in the Philadelphia suburbs arguing that democracy is “what the 2024 election is all about.”

On March 8, one day after his State of the Union address, he returned to the Philadelphia suburbs and continued to emphasize his administration’s commitment to protecting abortion access. During Tuesday’s visit in Scranton, he touted his administration’s economic record and blasted tax reform legislation passed during Trump’s administration.

As Biden finished his pre-primary election campaign swing in Pennsylvania, Trump was in New York, as his hush money trial continues. Trump made his fourth visit of the year to Pennsylvania on April 13, when he attended a fundraiser in Bucks County and a rally in the Lehigh Valley.

Widespread polling shows Biden and Trump in a close race for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes, with Kennedy a possible spoiler for either candidate. A Franklin & Marshall College poll conducted March 20-31 shows Biden leading Trump by 10 points, although that margin drops down to 2 points when third-party candidates, including Kennedy, are an option.

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) said on Thursday he is confident that Biden will carry the state again, but isn’t focusing on the polls, even if Biden is leading.

“You get up every single day in a campaign, you build a coalition,” Kenyatta said. “Today, you saw most of the Kennedy family, with a notable exception, endorsing the president, laying out the record of success that he has, and that’s what you have to do.”

Multiple national ratings outlets, including the Cook Political Report, describe the presidential race in Pennsylvania as a “toss-up.”

The Pennsylvania primary election is Tuesday.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.

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