Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. formally announcing bid for president

Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the nephew of the late president John F. Kennedy and son of former U.S. attorney general and 1968 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, is expected to formally announce his bid for the Democratic nomination for president Wednesday. 

Kennedy, who filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission in early April, is formalizing his announcement at the Boston Park Plaza on Wednesday. His campaign says campaign representatives filed additional paperwork with the Federal Election Commission Wednesday to move the process forward. 

Kennedy, 69, works as a trial attorney and has championed environmental causes. But it’s his campaign against vaccines that has put him on the map nationally. His penchant against vaccines became even more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kennedy founded a nonprofit group dedicated to pushing anti-vaccine propaganda called the Children’s Health Defense. Even members of the famously tight-knit Kennedy family have spoken out against his work as not only misleading but unsafe. 

Kennedy’s challenge to President Joe Biden is a long-shot bid, and his anti-vaccine stance isn’t likely to help him with support in the Democratic Party. Self-help author Marianne Williamson, who ran in 2020, has also announced she’s running for the Democratic nomination.  

It’s not yet clear if other Democrats who could pose more of a threat to Mr. Biden will jump into the race. The president hasn’t yet announced that he’s running for reelection, although he and the White House have indicated that he will.