Robert F Kennedy Jr, the scion of the Kennedy political family who has spent the last six months running for the Democratic presidential nomination, is expected to announce an independent run for the presidency on Monday.
In a statement emailed to the media, Kennedy’s campaign said the 69-year-old will make a “much-anticipated announcement in [an] address to the American people” on Monday afternoon in Philadelphia.
Kennedy, who announced that he was running against Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in April, has been polling at an average of 15% among Democrats nationwide.
Over the past six months Kennedy, who has a track record of promoting conspiracy theories and a long history of opposing vaccines, has struggled to make inroads into Biden’s support.
The nephew of John F Kennedy, and son of Robert F Kennedy, both Democrats who were assassinated, has, however, drawn ire for false comments about wifi causing “leaky brain” and chemicals in water causing gender dysphoria.
In July he was accused of antisemitism after he claimed that Covid-19 had been targeted to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people from the worst impacts of the disease; the same month, the Congressional Integrity Project, a political watchdog, released a report that details Kennedy’s meetings with and promotion of racists, antisemites and extremist conspiracy theorists.
In a statement about the announcement, Kennedy’s campaign said he will “will lay out a path to the White House that involves a major shift in American politics”.
“Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr will make a historic announcement on Oct 9 in Philadelphia, where he will share a vision of a profound realignment of American politics and the healing of the nation’s widening partisan divide,” the statement said.
Although Kennedy has been running for president as a Democrat, polls show that he is more popular among Republicans than Democratic party supporters.
Since launching his campaign Kennedy has repeatedly appeared on Fox News, the right-wing news channel, and has also appeared on the podcasts of Steve Bannon, the former Donald Trump advisor, and Alex Jones, a right-wing conspiracy theorist.