小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪群岛退出民主党初选他在周一的一次演讲中说，反对乔·拜登明年独立竞选总统。

在费城国家宪法中心(National Constitution Center)前对人群发表讲话时，他表示，他决定离开他的家人几十年来一直象征着的政党，这符合美国的个人主义价值观，也符合他自己的政纲，这一政纲将自由主义政策的优先事项与民主党人更非正统的立场相结合，如在移民问题上更强硬的言论和关于公共卫生的争议性主张。

“我们心中有某种东西在蠢蠢欲动。它说，‘事情本不应该是这样的。’”肯尼迪说。“在机场、酒店和街上的购物中心，人们到处拦住我，他们提醒我，这个国家已经准备好进行历史性的变革。他们准备重新获得自由和独立。这也是我今天来到这里的原因。我在这里宣布我是美国总统的独立候选人。”

“我今天来到这里，宣布我们从腐败之旅中独立出来，腐败剥夺了我们负担得起的生活、我们对未来的信念和我们对彼此的尊重。但要做到这一点，我必须首先宣布我自己的独立性，从民主党独立出来，”他说。

作为一名律师和活动家，肯尼迪是美国最著名的民主党家庭的后裔:他的父亲是被杀害的老参议员罗伯特·F·肯尼迪，他的叔叔是前总统约翰·肯尼迪。

年轻的肯尼迪在4月份发起了一场与拜登争夺2024年民主党提名的长期竞争。

然而，自那以后，肯尼迪在全国民意调查中从民主党人那里获得的支持相对较少，根据538，虽然他有吸引了数百万的捐款来自一群支持者。

独立竞选是明年选举的一个新转折——在这个时候，调查一直显示选民对拜登和前总统唐纳德·特朗普之间的潜在复赛感到不满——尽管尚不清楚肯尼迪是否能从两党制中吸引足够多的选民以取得胜利。

自称是民主党人、肯尼迪支持者的布伦·洛根(Bren Logan)表示，她支持肯尼迪以无党派人士的身份参选，并驳斥了那些称他为潜在搅局者的人。

“我不太玩那个领域，”洛根告诉ABC新闻。“对我来说只是噪音。所以，不管有没有剧透，这都是一场比赛。”

另一名支持者大卫·希特尔说，尽管在现代历史上从未有过独立的总统当选，但他希望肯尼迪能成为第一个。

“民主党人害怕我会破坏拜登总统的选举。共和党人害怕我会破坏特朗普总统的计划。事实是他们都是对的，”肯尼迪周一说。“我的意图是破坏他们两个。”

肯尼迪的声明是这样的，他上周在费城的演讲被戏谑为“美国政治的巨变”对他的未来越来越多的猜测在与民主党全国委员会就初选规则和他所称的不公平程序的抱怨反复争吵之后。

在周一的活动中，肯尼迪呼吁他的一些亲戚参加支持。然而，家族中的其他人一直直言不讳地提出批评。凯丽·肯尼迪修女发表声明她和他们的三个兄弟姐妹在社交媒体上谴责他的候选资格，称其“对我们的国家来说是危险的。”

作家兼议长玛丽安娜·威廉森现在是民主党初选中拜登唯一的明显挑战者，尽管他继续遥遥领先于她，党内官员也表示支持他连任。

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during a campaign event at Independence Mall, Oct. 9, 2023, in Philadelphia.

马特·洛克/美联社

肯尼迪在峰会上遭到了民主党人的严厉指责他在录音中引用了一个错误的阴谋论，即新冠肺炎是“针对”某些种族的，而中国人和欧洲血统的犹太人更不受影响。后来在一个众议院委员会面前，他否认自己是种族主义者或反犹太主义者。

肯尼迪上个月表示，他不排除在2024年11月的大选中独立竞选，挑战推定的民主党和共和党提名人，尽管他在夏天一再排除这种可能性。

“我是民主党人。你知道，我是一个传统的民主党人，而且……我在这里的部分使命是召唤民主党回到它的传统理想，”甘乃迪在八月告诉福克斯新闻频道。

但在9月份，他在南卡罗来纳州北查尔斯顿的一个竞选市政厅拒绝排除独立竞选的可能性，告诉一名支持者他“将保留所有的选择”

当时，肯尼迪的竞选经理、前众议员丹尼斯·库钦奇(Dennis Kucinich)打消了他退出民主党初选的想法。

当被问及肯尼迪对独立竞选的明显开放态度时，他告诉美国广播公司新闻部，“不管候选人自己说了什么，我们都没有放弃对民主党的希望”。

上周，与肯尼迪结盟的美国价值观2024政治团体表示，该团体一直在对他进行投票，但他的名字旁边没有D。

“我可以告诉你，我认为他以独立身份参选是正确的，”美国价值观联合主席托尼·莱昂斯上周告诉美国广播公司新闻。

RFK Jr. launches independent bid for president, leaving Democratic race against Biden

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. isdropping out of the Democratic primary raceagainst Joe Biden to launch an independent campaign for president next year, he said in a speech on Monday.

Speaking to a crowd in front of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, he cast his decision to leave the party his family has symbolized for decades as in keeping with American values of individualism -- and his own platform, which mixes liberal policy priorities with more unorthodox positions for a Democrat, like tougher rhetoric on immigration and controversial claims about public health.

"Something is stirring in us. It says, 'It doesn't have to be this way,'" Kennedy said. "People stop me everywhere, at airports and hotels and malls on the street, and they remind me that this country is ready for a history-making change. They are ready to reclaim their freedom, their independence. And that's why I'm here today. I'm here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States."

"I'm coming here today to declare our independence from the journey of corruption, which robs us of affordable lives, our belief in the future and our respect for each other. But to do that, I must first declare my own independence, independence from the Democratic Party," he said.

An attorney and activist, Kennedy is the scion of one of the country's most famous Democratic families: His father is slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and his uncle is former President John F. Kennedy.

The younger Kennedy in April launched a long-shot bid against Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination.

Since then, however, Kennedy has attracted relatively little support from Democrats in national polling,according to 538, though he hasdrawn millions in donationsfrom a base of supporters.

An independent bid is a new twist in next year's election -- at a time when surveys consistently show voters have soured on a potential rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump -- though it's not yet clear if Kennedy can draw enough voters away from the two-party system to emerge victorious.

Bren Logan, a self-described Democrat and supporter of Kennedy’s, said that she supported his move to run as an independent and dismissed those who called him a potential spoiler candidate.

“I don't play too much that realm,” Logan told ABC News. “It’s just noise to me. So, spoiler or not, it's a competition.”

Another supporter, David Heether, said that despite the fact that there has never been an independent president elected in modern history, he has hope that Kennedy could be the first.

“The Democrats are frightened that I'm gonna spoil the election for President Biden. The Republicans are frightened that I'm gonna spoil it for President Trump. The truth is they're both right,” Kennedy said Monday. “My intention is to spoil it for both of them.”

Teasing his Philadelphia speech last week as one that would create a “sea change in American politics,” Kennedy’s announcement followsmounting speculation about his futurein the party after repeatedly sparring with the Democratic National Committee over the rules governing its primary and complaints of what he called an unfair process.

At Monday's event, Kennedy called out some of his relatives for attending in support. Others in the family, however, have been vocally critical. Sister Kerry Kennedyreleased a statementon social media from her and three of their siblings denouncing his candidacy and calling it "perilous for our country."

Author and speaker Marianne Williamson is now the only notable challenger to Biden in the Democratic primary, though he continues to poll far ahead of her and party officials have said they support his reelection.

Kennedydrew a sharp rebuke from Democrats over the summer after he was recorded citing a false conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was "targeted to" certain ethnicities while Chinese people and Jews of European descent were more immune. In a later appearance before a House committee, he denied that he is racist or antisemitic.

Kennedy said last month that he had not ruled out an independent run to challenge the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees in the November 2024 election, despite having repeatedly ruled out such a possibility over the summer.

"I'm a Democrat. You know, I'm a traditional Democrat, and … part of my mission here is to summon the Democratic Party back to its traditional ideals," Kennedy told Fox News in August.

But in September, he refused to rule out the possibility of an independent run during a campaign town hall in North Charleston, South Carolina, telling a supporter he was “going to keep all my options open."

At the time, Kennedy’s campaign manager, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, dismissed the idea of him leaving the Democratic primary.

“Regardless of what's been said, even by the candidate himself, we have not abandoned hope for the Democratic Party," he told ABC News when asked about Kennedy’s apparent openness to an independent run.

Last week, the Kennedy-aligned American Values 2024 political group said that it had been polling him without the D next to his name.

“I can tell you that I think the right move is for him to run as an independent,” Tony Lyons, American Values' co-chair, told ABC News last week.