President Joe Biden ended a three-day campaign tour of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Thursday, where he received an endorsement from over a dozen members of the Kennedy family.
Biden held a rally at Philadelphia's Martin Luther King Recreation Center featuring an endorsement from 15 Kennedy family members. Biden, a former Penn Professor of Presidential Practice, addressed an energetic crowd in a speech that contrasted his plan for the nation against that of his Republican rival, former President and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump.
"Donald Trump's vision is one of anger and hate and revenge and retribution. I have a very different view of America — one of hope and optimism,” Biden said in his speech.
Opening remarks came from John White Jr., a former Pennsylvania state welfare secretary. White highlighted Biden's personal character, noting the president's support after White's wife's death.
Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy Sr., headlined the high-profile endorsement alongside five of her siblings. In her remarks, she framed the 2024 election as a stark choice between Biden and his Republican rival Trump — leaving no room for third-party candidates like her own brother and fellow presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kerry Kennedy presented the endorsement as a unified campaign to protect American democracy and values, highlighting the threat posed by Trump.
"We all need to come together in a campaign that should unite not only Democrats, but all Americans, including Republicans and independents who believe in what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature," she said during the rally.
Biden, who keeps a bust of Robert F. Kennedy Sr. in the Oval Office, accepted the "incredible honor" of the Kennedy family endorsement and highlighted the long political legacy of the Kennedy family. He noted that Robert F. Kennedy Sr.'s "passion and courage inspired [his] generation" after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Pennsylvania state House candidate Andre Carroll stressed the importance of re-electing Biden after experiencing his first term, citing student debt relief, health care, and minimum wage as key issues.
"It's really important that we re-elect President Biden, because we had the opportunity to see what four years under Biden looks like and what four years under the other guy looks like,” Carroll said to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Pennsylvania State Rep. Tarik Khan (D-Philadelphia), who received a Ph.D from Penn's School of Nursing in 2022, urged Biden to promote his accomplishments to draw a clear contrast with Trump — echoing Carroll's emphasis on specific key issues.
“I think it’s important for people to really understand what the choice is, and I think it helps to focus people and kind of refocus them on what a monster Donald Trump is and how he’s disrupting people's democracy in our nation,” Khan told the DP. “If we thought he was bad in his first term, think of what he could do with a more strategized, a more aggressive, second term.”
The event was also marked by protests condemning Biden's policies toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Outside the venue, dozens of protestors voiced opposition to the president’s foreign policies.
"The majority of Democratic voters do not want this war. We don't want our tax dollars funding aid to Israel to bomb children in Gaza," protester and Philadelphia resident Tia Carioli told the DP.
The event on Thursday was part of Biden's third day this week in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state for his re-election bid. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has polled around 7 to 9% in Pennsylvania, a must-win state for Biden. While his ultimate impact is unclear, Democrats fear he could siphon enough liberal voters to tilt the election to Trump in close battleground states like Pennsylvania, which Biden won by less than 90,000 votes in 2020.
“We’re the only nation in the world that’s come out of every crisis stronger than we went in. There’s nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together,” Biden said.
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