Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is having conversations with vice presidential candidates as he gets closer to announcing his running mate for his independent presidential bid and the names are - interesting.
Kennedy told The New York Times that former Packer QB, now a New York Jet, Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura are at the top of his list. Stefanie Spear, a campaign spokesperson, confirmed the Times report and said there are other names on Kennedy’s short list.
Kennedy, a scion of one of the nation’s most prominent political families, has focused on getting access to the ballot, an expensive and time-consuming process that he has said will require him to collect more than a million signatures in a state-by-state effort.
Ventura's son Tyrel told the Star Tribune that he has not been approached and didn't have a comment on what he described as speculation.
WCCO political analyst Blois Olson says Ventura appeared with Kennedy at a recent event and having some star power on his ticket would help garner some attention.
"I think Ventura is very much on the Kennedy bandwagon," says Olson. "But they do have different views on vaccines so that's one interesting thing, because Ventura has been more pro-vaccine than Robert Kenney Jr. who of course has been very anti-vaccine. Of course we know Aaron Rodgers was not pro-COVID vaccine."
Many states require independent candidates to name a running mate before they can seek access to the ballot, a factor driving the early push for Kennedy to make a pick. Major party candidates generally don’t pick vice presidential nominees until closer to their summer conventions.
Kennedy is a lawyer and environmental activist who has become a leading figure in the movement that rejects the scientific consensus around vaccines. and a vocal critic of the public health establishment.
After originally running as a Democrat, he refocused his efforts around an independent campaign last year, spooking loyalists of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden, who worry he’ll pick up supporters who would otherwise back one of the major party candidates.
Rodgers, the longtime Green Bay Packers quarterback who now plays for the New York Jets, shares Kennedy’s distrust of vaccine mandates and, like Kennedy, is a fixture on anti-establishment podcasts. Ventura, a former professional wrestler, shocked observers when he won the race for Minnesota governor as an independent candidate in 1998.
"It's getting attention for sure and we haven't talked a lot about Robert Kennedy but he is going to be a factor in this race," explains Olson. "We'll have to watch it more closely as we go."
Ventura has toyed with the idea of running for president a few times since leaving the Governor's office in 2002, citing his "disgust" with both the Republican and Democratic parties.
"Let me be clear: I have ZERO confidence in Democrats and Republicans. I refuse to vote for 'the lesser of two evils' because in the end, that’s still choosing evil," he told WCCO Radio in 2020.