{"id":2253378,"date":"2024-05-26T12:40:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T16:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-rep-patrick-kennedy-spurns-cousin-rfk-jr-and-endorses-biden\/"},"modified":"2024-05-26T12:42:41","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T16:42:41","slug":"former-rep-patrick-kennedy-spurns-cousin-rfk-jr-and-endorses-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-rep-patrick-kennedy-spurns-cousin-rfk-jr-and-endorses-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Rep. Patrick Kennedy shuns cousin RFK Jr., backs Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-rep-patrick-kennedy-spurns-cousin-rfk-jr-and-endorses-biden%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2253378&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy III, a vocal mental health advocate, endorsed President Joe Biden\u2063 for a second term, applauding Biden for his commitment to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/armed-man-seeks-governor-at-wisconsin-capitol-twice-in-same-day\/\" title=\"Man with weapon attempts to meet governor at Wisconsin Capitol twice in one day.\">mental health policies<\/a>. Kennedy highlighted that Biden bravely confronts insurance \u2064companies and\u2062 generously funds <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/seniors-suffer-growing-malaise-as-covid-19-slogs-on\/\" title=\"Seniors Suffer Growing Malaise as COVID-19 Slogs On\">community mental health<\/a> initiatives \u200dall over the country. While Kennedy worries over potential reelection of Donald Trump, he refrained\u200b from criticizing his\u2064 relative, independent\u2062 presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Former Rhode Island Democratic Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/patrick-kennedy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Patrick Kennedy III<\/a> has echoed the sentiment of most of his family in endorsing President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Joe Biden<\/a> for a second term.<\/p>\n<p>During a Sunday interview, Kennedy, son of the late Massachusetts Democratic Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ted-kennedy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Ted Kennedy<\/a>, praised Biden for his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mental-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>mental health<\/a> record. Kennedy is a vocal advocate of more mental health resources and services after his own public problems with bipolar disorder and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/drugs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>drug addiction<\/a>, dating back to when he was treated for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/cocaine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>cocaine<\/a> use as a teenager.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s 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,\u201d Kennedy told CNN. \u201cFrankly, he\u2019s also put the most money to community mental health around the country.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you care about this addiction crisis and this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-year-old-girl-pepper-sprayed-during-interaction-with-rochester-police\/\" title=\"9-Year-Old Girl Pepper Sprayed During Interaction With Rochester Police\">mental health crisis<\/a>, Joe Biden is your candidate,\u201d he said, before alluding to Biden\u2019s son <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hunter-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Hunter<\/a>. \u201cHe knows this issue, as you know. It\u2019s personally affected him. And I think that every American can relate to what it\u2019s like for Joe Biden, because we have all had similar circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Kennedy did not directly criticize his cousin, independent presidential candidate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/rfk-jr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a>, when asked whether he was a spoiler in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worry that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> will be elected, because, of course, as other guests have told you, I mean, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>democracy<\/a> really is in peril,\u201d the former congressman said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere we are, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/memorial-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Memorial Day<\/a> weekend, honoring those who died to protect democracy, including my uncle Joe Kennedy, [who] died at 28 over Germany trying to take out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hitler\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>[Adolph]  Hitler<\/a>\u2018s buzz bombs,\u201d he added. \u201cNow 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy became the first Generation X member of Congress when he was elected to represent Rhode Island\u2019s 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\u00a0probation officer, and near-daily\u00a0Alcoholics Anonymous\u00a0meetings.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>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\u00a0Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/who-is-ross-ulbricht-the-prison-inmate-who-could-be-key-to-trumps-libertarian-support\/\" title=\"Who is Ross Ulbricht, the incarcerated individual potentially vital for Trump's libertarian backing?\">average 2 percentage point advantage<\/a> over Biden when third party and independent contenders are taken into account, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/president\/general\/2024\/trump-vs-biden-vs-kennedy-vs-west-vs-stein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>RealClearPolitics<\/em><\/a>. That edge decreases to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/president\/general\/2024\/trump-vs-biden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1 point<\/a> when polling respondents are not provided with the other options.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Rhode Island Democrat Rep. Patrick Kennedy III joins his family in endorsing President Joe Biden for re-election. In a recent interview, he lauded Biden&#8217;s mental health track record. Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, is a strong voice for mental health advocacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2652,"featured_media":2253379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP266677711752-1024x721.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2253378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP266677711752-1024x721.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2652"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2253378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2253379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2253378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2253378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2253378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}