Democratic presidential challenger Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced on Thursday that his campaign had raised $3 million in the last three days of the second quarter.
Kennedy has polled consistently well enough to pose a threat to President Joe Biden’s re-election plan — to simply coast into the 2024 general election without the inconvenience of a heated primary. And despite cultivating a reputation as a conspiracy theorist — especially with regard to vaccines — his message appears to be resonating with more moderate Democrats.
Kennedy shared a press release announcing the news on Thursday, along with a quote from former Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich — who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination himself in 2008: “One reason Kennedy is catching on is that the public is fed up with the media smears. People are answering the attacks by opening up their wallets.”
.@Dennis_Kucinich: “One reason Kennedy is catching on is that the public is fed up with the media smears. People are answering the attacks by opening up their wallets.” #Kennedy24 https://t.co/89rAUm6FNe
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) July 6, 2023
“RFK, Jr. has shown respect for the intelligence of the American people. The more people hear his message, the more he connects,” Kucinich added.
According to the press release, Kennedy’s campaign raised a total of $6 million on the second quarter — half of that in the final three days.
But the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy still faces an uphill battle for the Democratic nomination. President Joe Biden has the advantage of incumbency in addition to the full-throated backing of the Democratic Party — which has declined to offer any primary debates that would allow Biden and Kennedy to share a stage.
As recently-ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson noted in a recent episode of “Tucker on Twitter,” Kennedy also has to contend with legacy media outlets that don’t appear to want his message getting to the people.
The NYT went straight for the jugular in its coverage of Kennedy’s campaign launch, Carlson said, quoting, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a presidential campaign on Wednesday built on re-litigating Covid-19 shutdowns and shaking Americans’ faith in science.”
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“Shaking Americans’ faith in science,” Carlson repeated. “Imagine if you were an ordinary New York Times subscriber reading that over coffee in your pre-war, rent-controlled duplex on Columbus Avenue. You’d think Bobby Kennedy just declared war on the Enlightenment. ‘My fellow Americans, I have come to shake your faith in science. Join me as I drag our nation back to the Medieval period.’ You’d be appalled.”