Wisconsin supporters of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. say they’re determined to help him get on the November ballot in the state.
The supporters are becoming more active, recently holding an outdoor rally in Appleton and gathering this past weekend for a meet and greet at a bar in Wauwatosa.
Sondee Olson, who lives in Dodge County and voted for Democrat Joe Biden four years ago, says she’s been a Kennedy fan for a long time, going back to when he was an environmental attorney suing polluters and helping to create the Waterkeeper Alliance. Olson says she also liked Kennedy’s prominent work with the group Children’s Health Defense.
“He was my hero and he was working for children. He was working for all children. Not rich children, not poor children — everybody," Olson says.
But critics, including some other members of the Kennedy family have criticized his recent anti-vaccine activism.
David Grover of Oshkosh is the state lead of Wisconsin for Kennedy. Grover voted for Libertarian presidential candidate Jo Jorgenson in 2020. But he says Kennedy now seems the best candidate to break the Republican and Democratic parties’ hold on politics. Like Kennedy, Grover says he opposes huge military spending.
“In my lifetime, I can only think of about five years when we were not involved in a war in one way or another. And really, I think all the war machine does is make the defense contractors rich," Grover says.
But part of Kennedy’s position has drawn heat for the candidate saying he would negotiate with Russia to end the Ukraine war.
Janis Parker of Oconomowoc declines to say who she supported four years ago, other than it wasn’t Biden or Republican Donald Trump. Parker, a mother of younger adult children, says she appreciates Kennedy’s willingness to tackle the issue of housing affordability.
“We’re going to have to make this doable because that is crucial for our young people to be able to have that kind of security. So they’re grounded, they’re stable, and can create a life for themselves. Right now, they can’t," Parker says.
Kennedy has promised to try to lock in home loan interest rates for first-time homebuyers at 3%.
But any Wisconsin enthusiasm for Kennedy, and a recent Marquette poll shows him at 16% when third-party candidates are considered, goes up against Biden and Trump, having much higher numbers and big campaign budgets. Plus, some Trump and Biden backers have animosity toward the independent, worrying he will take away votes from their candidate and help the other major party win.
But Wisconsin for Kennedy campaign spokesperson Teddy McIntyre of Pleasant Prairie says he doesn’t worry about what the other campaigns are saying.
“I’m hoping Kennedy’s going to be elected. So, I’m not concerned about Biden or Trump," McIntyre tells WUWM.
