A dozen environmental groups issued a sharp rebuke Friday of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an environmental lawyer who led the green group Waterkeeper Alliance until 2020 and has promised to be the “best environment president in American history.”
Kennedy “is not an environmentalist,” reads the letter, whose signees included the Sierra Club, 350 Action, and the Sunrise Movement. “He is a dangerous conspiracy theorist and science denier whose agenda would be a disaster for our communities and the planet.”
Calling on voters “to reject RFK Jr. and the toxic beliefs he promotes before it’s too late,” the letter describes Kennedy’s climate policies as an affront to “objective reality” and “no different” from those likely to be pursued in a Trump administration.
At the same time, dozens of Kennedy’s former colleagues at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), where he worked for nearly three decades, are planning to put out advertisements in six swing states on Sunday—the day before Earth Day—calling on him to “honor our planet” by dropping out of the race.
“In nothing more than a vanity candidacy, RFK Jr. has chosen to play the role of election spoiler to the benefit of Donald Trump – the single worst environmental president our country has ever had,” the ad reads.
Both groups argue that Kennedy’s candidacy threatens the goals of the U.S. environmental movement not just because of the possibility that he could play spoiler and pave the way for a second Trump term, but also because of his own statements. Kennedy claimed last year that “climate change is being used to control us through fear” and argued, contrary to the beliefs of many environmentalists, that “freedom and free markets are a much better way to stop pollution.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Kennedy skirted directly engaging with the criticisms of his erstwhile colleagues, only saying that he and his onetime mentor, NRDC co-founder John Hamilton Adams, “disagree with each other on politics.” Kennedy also aimed at President Joe Biden, saying he “does not need my help to lose to Donald Trump.”
In addition to the three states in which RFK Jr. has already officially qualified to appear on the ballot in November, his campaign claims it has enough signatures to pass the threshold in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Nebraska, Idaho and Iowa, CNN reported Saturday.
The two disavowals from environmentalists come as Kennedy is also facing opposition from his own family. At a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Thursday, six of RFK’s siblings threw their support behind Biden. “The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president,” RFK Jr.’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, told the crowd. “We are here because we feel obliged to do all we can in this election.”
A day later, Biden posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, featuring several Kennedy family endorsements. “Having the support of the Kennedy family in this election means the world to me.”
