In graphics | Meet RKF Jr, a Kennedy in the White House race for 2024

America once again has a Kennedy running for the White House. Until Monday, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the scion of the famed US political dynasty, was challenging US president Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination. However, in an abrupt U-turn, Kennedy declared his ‘independence from all political parties’ — and that he would seek the office of President of the United States as an Independent. While Kennedy has long identified as a Democrat and frequently invokes his late father, Senator Robert F Kennedy, and his uncle President John F Kennedy on the campaign trail, he has built close relationships with far-right figures in recent years. He has expressed fringe views such as a vocal distrust of COVID-19 vaccines, which studies have shown are safe and effective against severe disease and death, claimed that vaccines cause autism, the CIA bumped off his uncle JFK, that anti-depressants are responsible for school shootings and that the 2004 election was stolen from John Kerry by George W Bush. Kennedy now faces the prospect of running against both Biden and former president Donald Trump in 2024. Experts on both sides of the divide have questioned whose voters Kennedy will draw — Biden or Trump voters — thereby catapulting one of the two main figures to the White House. “The truth is, they’re both right,” Kennedy said onstage Monday to roaring applause. “My intention is to spoil it for both of them.” Cornel West, a philosopher and Black social leader, is also running as an Independent. Let’s take a graphical look at Kennedy, his prospects in 2024 and the many controversies surrounding him:

All creatives designed by News18