Family members of historic Latino leader Cesar Chavez formally endorsed Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee's campaign said.
Concretely, the endorsement came from Fernando and Paul Chavez, sons of the labor leader. "The bonds of affection and respect for a president who by his character and actions consistently reflects the genuine legacy of my father." Paul Chavez told CBS News on Friday.
The statement took place ahead of a campaign event by Robert Kennedy Jr. (RFK), who has sought to use his uncle John F. Kennedy's historic support from Latinos to make gains with this demographic.
The endorsement, however, is somewhat symbolic, as the Biden campaign already has close ties with the Chavez family. His granddaughter, Julie Chavez Rodrigez, is the president's campaign manager.
"Today, my grandfather's bust sits in the Oval Office — a reminder that President Biden understands the power of organizing and working people and recognizes the impact of my grandfather's legacy to continue to mobilize our communities into action," Julie Chavez Rodriguez told CBS News.
"In an election that will determine the fate of organized labor, our Latino community, and our democracy, I could not be more humbled to accept the support of my family as one of many that will power us to victory in November ¡Si se puede!."
Kennedy, on his end, is seeking to capitalize on his uncle's historic support with an initiative that includes registering voters under RFK's We the People Party, ads in Spanish and the setting up of clubs across the country.
Axios recalled that RFK's father helped set up Viva Kennedy! clubs for his brother during his presidential run, helping to register Mexican American and Puerto Rican voters.
Kennedy will be on the ballot in at least four states and is seeking to appear in at least two others, Georgia and Arizona, both of them with large Latino populations. The goal is to emulate to some extent his uncle's support with the demographic. JFK got 90% of Latino voters in some states, the 1960 elections being the first time in which they played a significant role in tipping the scale in some states.
However, the scenario is quite different this time. RFK is not representing one of the two major parties and his long-shot bid has been marked by criticism to anti-vaccine conspiracy theories spread throughout the past years.
A poll tracker average by The Hill and Decision Desk currently has RFK with just over 10% of the support, compared to Joe Biden's 38.4% and Donald Trump's 40.2%. His overall support has been steadily declining since at least October of last year, when the figure was 19%.
But even if RFK doesn't get close to winning any of the states in which he will be in the ballot, votes that go his way could help tip the scale to Biden or Trump's favor. At the moment, aggregated data from Split Ticket shows Biden with a seven percentage point lead among Latinos.
However, this is a much smaller difference than before, and trends show it continues to shrink, with a NYT/Siena College poll from March showing the former president with a six percentage point lead over the current one, 46 to 40%.
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