RFK Jr. Challenges Biden to Debate: ‘Our Party Has Gone Off Track’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Challenges Joe Biden to Debates

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has thrown down the gauntlet to President Joe Biden, calling for a series of debates and town hall meetings after Biden officially announced his 2024 reelection campaign on Tuesday. Kennedy believes that the Democratic Party has lost its way and no longer adheres to traditional values. He wants to return the party and the nation to the people.

Kennedy, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, officially announced his campaign for the presidency last week, becoming the first Kennedy since 1979 to make a bid for the White House and the third to challenge a sitting president.

“I am a multi-generational Democrat, but I think our party has gone off track,” Kennedy said. “Remember when we upheld the interests of the poor and middle class against big corporations and Wall Street? Remember when we were the party of peace, civil liberties, and people power? I aim to reclaim my party and its traditional values.

DNC Plans to Skip Debates

Kennedy’s challenge comes amid reports that the Democrat National Committee (DNC) plans to forgo primary debates altogether in the upcoming presidential election cycle, prompting the 69-year-old candidate to respond on the matter.

“Debates and town halls are part of the democratic process,” Kennedy told The Epoch Times’s Jan Jekielek, host of American Thought Leaders, on April 24. “We’re living in a time when there’s a lot of Americans who believe our democracy is broken. And I think both political parties have to bend over backwards to start restoring faith in democracy and electional integrity.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk commented on Kennedy’s tweet that challenged Biden to the debate stage, saying: “You and other candidates deserve that opportunity!”

You and other candidates deserve that opportunity!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2023

Kennedy was not the only Democrat to decry the DNC’s plan to skip primary debates, despite multiple candidates vying for the party’s nomination: Williamson also weighed in on the matter.

“The DNC ‘plans no primary debates,’” Williamson wrote on Twitter over the weekend. “As though there simply ARE no other candidates … no other ideas we should discuss about ways to win in 2024, or other ideas we should discuss about how to make our country a better place for all.”