Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent campaign for the presidency is off to a rocky start in 2024 as fourteen disillusioned staffers have reportedly quit citing lavish spending and poor management.
Sources close to the campaign accuse campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, the candidate’s daughter-in-law, and campaign communications director Del Bigtree of mismanaging the campaign, according to a report by Mediaite.
“There is no one with any political experience, and it shows,” a source close to the campaign told the newspaper.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a campaign rally at the Fox Theater in Tucson, Arizona, USA, February 5, 2024
Pins and other merchandise supporting independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Fox Kennedy hired her nanny Brigid Rasmussen as campaign chief of staff, the report said, prompting campaign staff to question her management skills.
“Although Brigid is a nice young woman, she has no idea how to operate in her role and is inexperienced,” one campaign worker noted. “This is just one red flag indicating incompetence.”
Fox Kennedy replaced former Rep. Dennis Kucinich as campaign manager in October, shortly after RFK Jr. decided to end his challenge to President Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination and run for president as an independent.
An aide who resigned in protest complained to Kennedy in a resignation email that campaign management “seriously mismanaged your bid for the White House.”
“I cannot in good conscience lend my talent, time and efforts to an organization that is so amateurish, arrogant and out of touch with the American voter,” the letter said.
Former campaign staffers are sounding the alarm about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign leadership
Another source complained that Bigtree, the communications director, was out of touch, citing multiple Zoom calls to campaign staff at a ski area.
“He does Zoom calls from the slopes with champagne, while a lot of people are volunteers and don’t get paid,” one source complained.
Other complaints focused on the tone and tone of Bigtree’s leadership.
“It feels like a Spring Break party cruise. Del has been heard saying several times, “We’re like rock stars, and this is like being on tour with a rock band,” a source complained.
A resignation letter shared with Mediaite cited the frustrations of working in a “backward culture where everything is ‘great!’ and magical for this campaign, even as the operation struggles with the basic tasks of the campaign.
“The field is severely undercapitalized for ballot access, while National is relatively overcapitalized, with some positions appearing to do nothing but Zoom calls all day,” the letter said.
The Kennedy campaign faces a major hurdle in getting his name on the ballot as an independent candidate for president in every state.
“It bothers me every day that so many in the campaign cannot see the iceberg that lies right in front of us called ballot access,” the resignation letter continued.
The Kennedy campaign referred Dailymail.com to an earlier statement shared to Mediaite in response to the complaints.
“With more than a hundred employees and tens of thousands of volunteers across the country, Team Kennedy has great people who come and go depending on the needs of each phase of the campaign. As the most successful independent campaign of the last thirty years, we wish them nothing but the best,” the statement said.
The questions surrounding Kennedy’s campaign leadership come just after he got a big boost in a $7 million Super Bowl ad funded by a super PAC backing his campaign.
The ad replaced RFK’s face above an old JFK TV ad from 1960, which upset members of Kennedy’s family.
Kennedy apologized and distanced himself from the ad, but still has it pinned to X at the top of his campaign profile.