RFK Jr. fuels talk of Libertarian party switch: ‘He’s a rogue punk rocker’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fueled speculation that he will join the Libertarian Party’s presidential campaign as it looks to qualify in more states heading into November.

Mr Kennedy raised eyebrows late last month when he spoke at the party’s annual convention in California, a development hailed as a sign of intent by some liberals and an independent candidate in the battleground state. This was achieved by gaining the right to vote.

Although Mr. Kennedy himself has only casually considered the possibility of reversal, there is growing support among party members, strategists and activists to bring him into the fold, people told The Hill.

“There’s a lot of buzz and there’s a lot of interest in him,” said Ron Nielson, who served as campaign manager for former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson in 2012 and 2016.

“If he said he would accept the Libertarian Party’s nomination, that would probably change a lot of people’s heads,” Nielson said. “There are people in the Liberty movement who want to help him.”

One Kennedy source echoed that sentiment.

“There’s certainly a willingness on the part of people in the Liberty movement to consider Bobby,” said the person, speaking on condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal movement developments.

“He’s a rogue punk rocker in the political establishment,” the source added.

Kennedy wants it to appear uniformly on mapped ballots as part of a third-party campaign against President Biden and former President Trump. He regularly bemoans leading candidates from established parties, deeming them unfit to deal with the current national turmoil and the government’s larger systemic problems. So far, he is a formal candidate in New Hampshire and Utah, and last week added Hawaii to his campaign tally.

But observers from various sectors of the political system are increasingly skeptical that he will be able to collect enough signatures in time.

Meanwhile, Libertarians have been keeping an eye on Kennedy’s recent moves and have quietly announced their intention to nominate him at their party’s convention in late May in Washington, D.C.

“I’m watching it on the ground and hearing from other politicians in the independent field that they have their own coalitions that they’re trying to build,” said Vote for Independents, which has long been aligned with the Libertarian Party. said access consultant Christopher Thrasher.

“It’s really bipartisan,” Thrasher said. “Whatever, whether it’s before the general election or during the actual general election, part of their calculation is to activate as many individuals as possible across the ideological spectrum. Libertarian parties and Libertarian events and The tournament will influence that strategy.”

The increased interest in Kennedy is based on the belief that this election could be the most consequential for a third party since Ross Perot in 1992. If Kennedy officially switches his party to No. 2, he would automatically be eligible to be the Libertarian candidate in dozens of states. 2024 Cycle Time. He could appear immediately in Texas and California, the two states with the most electoral votes.

“I don’t think there’s any question that independents and third-party candidates have a real chance of winning the electorate in this election,” Thrasher said.

Kennedy was never shy about this thought process. Despite his political ties to a Democratic family, his stances on free speech and censorship place him outside of what many consider mainstream American politics. In that sense, a Libertarian bid may be a natural fit for the 70-year-old, who campaigns as an opposition figure despite his ancestry.

in Recently appeared on CNN, Kennedy said he was “considering” the possibility of another party switch, this time to the Libertarian side. The California tournament was the biggest sign yet that he was considering qualifying.

In theory, you could wait until the spring to change your affiliation, right before the tournament, or even on the day of the tournament, but many people warn that it’s better to do it sooner rather than later.

“He has very little choice here. If he wasn’t seriously considering running for the nomination, I don’t think it would be a waste of his time to attend the Libertarian convention in California.” ” said a person familiar with Kennedy’s thinking.

Adrian Malagon, executive director of the Libertarian National Committee, told The Hill that Kennedy was “really well received” at the conference. “We are very grateful that he accepted our invitation,” he said.

The Kennedy campaign has not commented.

Kennedy is gaining behind-the-scenes support in libertarian circles as he continues to present an alternative to Biden and Trump. Some within the party have pointed to his stance on guns and his foreign policy stance toward Israel, which some critics say is too close to Biden’s, and that his policies are not fully aligned with the party’s policy goals. is recognized.

But many seek to view Mr. Kennedy as the “lesser of two evils,” warning that he will give their party a bigger platform. Many believe there are benefits to running a celebrity-like candidate. This is especially important after the movement recently suffered rifts over ideological turf wars that slowed its national momentum.

Some of the most ardent libertarians, including Mises members, are unlikely to accept Kennedy and have already begun to oppose his bid. Moderate libertarians see the faction increasingly moving closer to Trump’s right-wing politics and away from the party’s traditional values. As of just a few months ago, they believed that Mr. Kennedy, a former Democrat, was not a strong representative of their brand and were actively lobbying against his possible party change. Is going.

“We categorically oppose any strategy that ‘lends’ our party’s position on the ballot in each state to RFK. We also firmly oppose any strategy that would ‘lend’ our party’s position on the ballot in each state to RFK, and that, in fact, it constitutes too many disqualifying departures from the essential principles of libertarianism. We firmly oppose the candidate,” said Mises PAC Chairman Aaron Harris. I wrote it in a blog post Last month, we addressed the question, “Should the Libertarian Party nominate RFK Jr.?”

“There’s a reason we’re on the LP Bill as the ‘party of principles.’ Because we believe that this is the greatest threat to the United States,” Harris wrote.

Despite strong opposition from that faction of the party, other factions have been inspired by the growing interest, urging Mr. Kennedy to make further gestures that could indicate which direction he is leaning.

“I would open the door,” Neilson said. “If he’s seriously considering a Libertarian run, I think he needs to address that directly and say, ‘I would be happy to accept the nomination.’

“It’s kind of like letting the chips go and seeing what happens,” Neilson added. “Certainly, it will spark a lot of discussion.”