DNC Files Federal Election Complaint Against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a federal election complaint filed Friday, the Democratic National Committee accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a super PAC backing his independent presidential bid of illegally coordinating a $15 million petition aimed at qualifying him for the vote in several states that could do that. are crucial to President Biden's reelection prospects.
The 11 page complaint to the Federal Election Commission described the scheme as an in-kind contribution to Mr. Kennedy's campaign by the super PAC, American Values 2024, a campaign that violated federal campaign finance laws and long-standing financial barriers between candidates and third parties groups broke through.
“This is an attempt to undermine our election laws and put a stalker horse in RFK Jr. afloat,” Lis Smith, a senior adviser to the DNC, said on a Zoom call with reporters.
Mr. Kennedy, the scion of a liberal political dynasty and an environmental lawyer better known for his anti-vaccine activism and promotion of conspiracy theories, entered the race last spring as a challenger for the Democratic nomination against Mr. Biden, but he left the long-distance trail in the fall to perform as an independent.
Tony Lyons, the co-chair of American Values 2024, rejected accusations that the group broke the law.
“The Biden administration and the DNC are clearly uncomfortable with democracy, want to suppress dissent and do not believe their candidate can win a free, open and fair election,” Lyons said in a statement on Friday.
While the complaint will set off a chain of events, the FEC, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, is often deadlocked on whether campaigns broke the law.
Kennedy campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy pushed back in her own statement on Friday. She said the campaign's petition drive was separate from the super PAC's activities.
“This is a non-issue raised by a partisan political entity that appears increasingly concerned about its own candidate and viability,” said Ms. Kennedy, who married Mr. Kennedy's son, Robert F. Kennedy III, in 2018.
Mr. Kennedy's supporters are collecting signatures from voters in a dozen states to try to secure his place on the ballot in the November election, raising fears among some Democrats that he could spoil Mr. Biden. Some national polls have Mr. Kennedy in the high single digits.
The petition drive has largely focused on populous states, which are among the biggest prizes on the Electoral College map. The states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New York and Texas. In some of those states, Mr. Kennedy has also filed paperwork to form his own political party, an effort to get on the ballot with fewer voter signatures.
He is not the first presidential candidate to scrutinize the role of super PACs this cycle.
Before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis withdrew from the Republican primary last month, he had delegated many traditional campaign activities to his main super PAC, Never Back Down. The group spent $130 million and coordinated many of his appearances on the trail, blurring the lines between the campaign and his super PAC. A campaign watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in December accusing Mr. DeSantis and his super PAC of illegal coordination, a complaint similar to the DNC's against Mr. Kennedy.
And former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican front-runner, raised eyebrows with his recent revelation that his super PACs had spent about $50 million in donor money on legal bills by 2023.