RFK Jr. claims Democratic Party has strayed at Chicago Town Hall.

In the early stages of his 2024 presidential campaign, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gained support from a broad spectrum of voters, leading to speculation that he could run as a Republican or an Independent. But at a Chicago town hall on July 28, the environmental attorney and Children’s Health Defense founder from one of America’s foremost political dynasty families said that will not happen.

“I’m a Democrat. This is who I am,” Kennedy told NewsNation host and town hall moderator Elizabeth Vargas. “This is my identity, but I want my party back.”

He said he is running for president because he believes his party “has lost its way” and he wants to “remind the Democratic Party of what we are supposed to represent.”

Among the values that Kennedy believes have been lost are “a focus on the middle class and labor, the well-being of minorities, a focus on the environment, civil liberties, and freedom of speech.”

Kennedy’s town hall appearance was well-timed, coming only hours after President Joe Biden’s “Investing in America” tour stop in Chicago to discuss “Bidenomics.”

It was Kennedy’s first town hall with a national news network, with an audience that included Democrats or Independents who are leaning Democratic. Additional audiences, watching the event in New Hampshire and South Carolina, also contributed questions.

Chicago will host the Democratic National Convention Aug. 19–22, when the party will announce its 2024 presidential nominee.

No Help From the DNC

Kennedy isn’t expected to get help from the Democratic National Committee, whose members voted at their winter meeting earlier this year to give Biden their full support.

For that reason, political strategists believe Kennedy is unlikely to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.

Still, Kennedy has the highest net favorability of all 2024 presidential candidates, a recent poll from The Economist/YouGov reported.

In the early stages of his campaign, he is receiving support from some progressives, moderates, conservatives, independents, and Libertarians.

Backing from those who are not left-leaning is also mounting because Kennedy differs from Biden and progressive Democrats on multiple issues.

At the town hall, Kennedy’s answers to questions about issues reflected stances that are not tied to one party.

An audience member who is the son of a Mexican immigrant asked Kennedy how he would address immigration. Kennedy said that he doesn’t think it is possible to get an immigration reform package through Congress until the United States can seal the border.

The candidate said that, initially, he was not in favor of former President Donald Trump’s border wall. But after seeing the border first-hand in Arizona earlier this month, Kennedy changed his mind. He said there is a need for increased infrastructure and technology at the border, including more segments of a physical wall, and sensors in areas where a wall isn’t feasible.

“Immigration is good for our country, but this kind of immigration is unfair to everybody,” he said.

About gun control, Kennedy said, “I do not believe that, within that Second Amendment, there is anything we can meaningfully do to reduce the trade and the ownership of guns.”

“Anybody who tells you that they’re going to reduce gun violence through gun control at this point, I don’t think is being realistic,” he said. “I think we have to think about other ways to reduce that violence.”

Kennedy did note that he would sign an assault weapons ban if he were president and the legislation was placed on his desk. During the town hall, he also said “there will be nobody in the Oval Office who is more supportive of LGBTQ rights than I am” and that he would legalize marijuana and psychedelic drugs—all points that many Democrats favor.

Regarding the rising cost of living, Kennedy said, “Inflation is not going to be reduced overnight. What we need to do is stop spending money on things that we can’t afford.

“We’re, you know, we’re borrowing billions of dollars today from the Chinese and the Japanese in order to fund the debt,” he said. “Debt this year is gonna cost us $660 billion.”

“We’re spending $130 billion just in the Ukraine. The entire budget at the CDC is 12 billion.,” he added.

De-Escalating the War in Ukraine

Kennedy has called for de-escalating the war in Ukraine. He explained that he is sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause, and added that Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded the country illegally, but he chastised the role of the United States in the conflict.

“We have neglected many, many opportunities to settle this war peacefully,” Kennedy said. “We have turned that nation into a proxy war between Russia and the United States.”

He added that Russia has “a legitimate concern about us moving NATO i