Ex-Rep. Patrick Kennedy shuns cousin RFK Jr., backs Biden

Former Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy III has echoed the sentiment of most of his family in endorsing President Joe Biden for a second term.

During a Sunday interview, Kennedy, son of the late Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, praised Biden for his mental health record. Kennedy is a vocal advocate of more mental health resources and services after his own public problems with bipolar disorder and drug addiction, dating back to when he was treated for cocaine use as a teenager.

“He’s helping take it to the insurance companies by enforcing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which I was honored to author, along with my late father, when we were in Congress,” Kennedy told CNN. “Frankly, he’s also put the most money to community mental health around the country.”

“If you care about this addiction crisis and this mental health crisis, Joe Biden is your candidate,” he said, before alluding to Biden’s son Hunter. “He knows this issue, as you know. It’s personally affected him. And I think that every American can relate to what it’s like for Joe Biden, because we have all had similar circumstances.”

But Kennedy did not directly criticize his cousin, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., when asked whether he was a spoiler in the 2024 election.

“I worry that Donald Trump will be elected, because, of course, as other guests have told you, I mean, democracy really is in peril,” the former congressman said.

“Here we are, Memorial Day weekend, honoring those who died to protect democracy, including my uncle Joe Kennedy, [who] died at 28 over Germany trying to take out [Adolph] Hitler‘s buzz bombs,” he added. “Now the threat to democracy is here at home. We have to get everyone out to vote and vote for Joe Biden and vote for democracy over autocracy.”

Kennedy became the first Generation X member of Congress when he was elected to represent Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District in 1994. He checked into a drug rehabilitation center twice during his tenure, including in 2006 after he crashed his car into a barricade on Capitol Hill. He pleaded guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of prescription drugs and was sentenced to one-year probation, fined $350, and ordered to attend weekly urine tests, twice-weekly meetings with a probation officer, and near-daily Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

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After his retirement in 2009, Kennedy co-founded One Mind, a mental health nonprofit organization, and advised former President Donald Trump as part of his Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission.

Trump has an average 2 percentage point advantage over Biden when third party and independent contenders are taken into account, according to RealClearPolitics. That edge decreases to 1 point when polling respondents are not provided with the other options.