Pro-Kennedy Super PAC said to have raised $10 million

A political action committee supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign has raised a total of $10.25 million, one of its leaders said Monday, a signal that his longstanding challenge to President Biden gained traction among donors, including many Republicans.

The precise level of fundraising by the super PAC, American Values ​​2024, will not be known until later this month, when political action committees file mid-year reports with the Federal Election Commission. But Tony Lyons, Mr Kennedy’s publisher and co-chair of the super PAC, said the $10.25 million included two “very large” donations each exceeding $1 million, and the contributions came from a mix “right in the middle” of Republicans. and Democrats.

Mr. Kennedy, a 69-year-old environmental lawyer and leading skeptic of vaccines and prescription drugs, often cites distorted statistics and unsubstantiated theories. He gained a foothold in the race, even as he railed against the Democratic Party, accused public health authorities of corruption and increasingly embraced conservative figures and causes.

Mr. Kennedy won’t be close to summoning the kind of financial support that will go to Mr. Biden, who as incumbent has the might of the Democratic National Committee and a solid infrastructure of donors behind him.

Mr. Kennedy’s support among Democrats has reached as high as 20% in the polls, although a June poll by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center puts his Democratic support in New Hampshire at 9%.

He also appealed to potential voters outside the party: A Quinnipiac University poll in June found that 40% of Republicans viewed him favorably, compared to 31% of independents and 25% of Democrats.

Mr Biden’s campaign has yet to announce fundraising figures.

The American Values ​​2024 super PAC was formed last year as the People’s Pharma Movement and was initially funded by $500,000 in contributions from Mark Gorton, a New York investor, records show. Mr. Gorton, who supports Mr. Kennedy’s candidacy, said he knows Mr. Kennedy through the “health freedom” movement, which widely opposes vaccinations and the regulation of health practices.

The committee was renamed last spring, after Mr. Kennedy entered the race for the Democratic nomination in April. The majority of the $10.25 million has come since then, Mr. Lyons said. As recently as the first week of June, the total PAC haul was $5.7 million, committee officials said, indicating nearly another $5 million arrived in the weeks leading up to the deadline. June 30 statement.

The range of political affiliations among the donors, Mr. Lyons said, showed that “there really are people across the political spectrum who think he is going to fight corruption in government and the taking of corporate control of government agencies”.

In recent speeches and appearances, Mr. Kennedy has relied on his family’s historic political history and framed his run as an attempt to “bridge the gap” in American politics, which he described as captive to corporate power.

The PAC is separate from his campaign, which last week sent in requests to reach a $5 million goal to close out its first full quarter of fundraising. On Friday, the campaign bragged that it had raised $1 million in 24 hours.

Dennis Kucinich, the former presidential candidate and former congressman from Ohio who serves as Mr. Kennedy’s campaign manager, said the campaign is expected to make a fundraising announcement this week. Official numbers will be filed with the FEC this month.

A second group supporting Mr. Kennedy, Common Sense PAC, was formed in Los Angeles in April by Sofia Karstens, an actress who has been active in the health freedom movement. Common Sense held a fundraiser for Mr. Kennedy last month in San Francisco with two tech investors, David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya. The event raised nearly $1 million, Karstens said.

Ms. Karstens did not have the latest PAC fundraising total immediately available on Monday.