RFK Jr. is expected to drop his Democratic primary bid and launch an independent or third-party run

PHILADELPHIA – Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to announce Monday that he’s going to drop his Democratic bid for president and run as an independent or third-party candidate, including a brand new wrinkle to a 2024 race lately heading towards a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Kennedy’s marketing campaign has teased the announcement within the days main up to a Monday afternoon speech in Philadelphia. In a up to date video, Kennedy stated there is corruption “in the leadership of both political parties” and stated he desires to “rewrite the assumptions and change the habits of American politics.”

The video got here in a while after Mediaite reported he deliberate to launch an independent bid.

A member of one in all America’s most renowned Democratic households, the 69-year-old Kennedy used to be operating a long-shot Democratic primary bid however has higher favorability rankings amongst Republicans. It’s unclear whether or not GOP toughen would translate to a common election when Kennedy would even be operating towards Trump, the early front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination. Allies of each Biden, a Democrat, and Trump have from time to time puzzled whether or not Kennedy could be a spoiler towards their candidate.

Biden’s allies to this point have pushed aside Kennedy’s primary marketing campaign as unserious. Asked for touch upon his possible independent run, a Democratic National Committee spokesman replied with an eye roll emoji.

Monday’s announcement comes not up to every week after the modern activist Cornel West abandoned his Green Party bid in want of an independent White House run. Meanwhile, the centrist group No Labels is actively securing poll get right of entry to for a yet-to-be-named candidate.

Kennedy has spent weeks accusing the DNC of “rigging” the celebration’s primary towards him and threatening that he would possibly want to believe choices.

In marketing campaign emails and movies, he blasted the DNC’s determination no longer to host debates between Biden and different applicants and railed towards the committee’s plan to give South Carolina quite than Iowa or New Hampshire the leadoff spot on the primary calendar this election cycle.

“If they jam me, I’m going to look at every option,” he stated in September at a New Hampshire fish fry held by means of Republican former Sen. Scott Brown.

Far-right and anti-vaccine influencers shut to Kennedy even have despatched sturdy alerts on social media suggesting he will have to or will depart the Democratic Party. Last month, Joseph Mercola, an influential anti-vaccine physician who is allied with Kennedy, ran a ballot on X, previously referred to as Twitter, asking if Kennedy will have to give up the celebration.

While Kennedy has lengthy identified as a Democrat and continuously invokes his overdue father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncle President John F. Kennedy at the marketing campaign path, he has constructed close relationships with far-right figures in recent times. He gave the impression on a channel run by means of the Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and headlined a prevent at the ReAwaken America Tour, the Christian nationalist street display put in combination by means of Trump’s former nationwide safety adviser Michael Flynn.

Polls display way more Republicans than Democrats have a positive opinion of Kennedy. He additionally has won toughen from some far-right conservatives for his fringe perspectives, together with his vocal mistrust of COVID-19 vaccines, which research have proven are secure and efficient towards serious illness and dying.

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine group, Children’s Health Defense, lately has a lawsuit pending towards plenty of news organizations, amongst them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust rules by means of taking motion to establish incorrect information, together with about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took depart from the crowd when he introduced his run for president however is indexed as one in all its legal professionals within the lawsuit.

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Associated Press writers Michelle Smith and Will Weissert contributed to this file.

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