Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s independent campaign for president is off to a rocky start in 2024, as 14 disillusioned staffers reportedly resigned citing lavish spending and mismanagement.
Sources close to the campaign blame campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, the candidate’s daughter-in-law and campaign communications director Del Bigtree for the campaign’s mismanagement, according to a report from mediaita.
“There is no one with political experience and it shows,” a source close to the campaign told the outlet.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a campaign rally at the Fox Theater in Tucson, Arizona, U.S., February 5, 2024.
Pins and other products in support of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Fox Kennedy hired her nanny Brigid Rasmussen to serve as the campaign’s chief of staff, the report notes, leading campaign staff to question her management skills.
“While Brigid is a nice young woman, she has no idea how to perform her role and is inexperienced,” said one campaign worker. “This is nothing more than a 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.
One staffer who resigned in protest complained to Kennedy in a resignation email that the campaign leadership was “grossly mismanaging his White House bid.”
“I cannot, in good conscience, lend my talents, 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 sound 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 from a ski resort.
“He makes Zoom calls from the slopes with champagne, while many people volunteer and don’t get paid,” one source complained.
Other complaints centered on the tone and tenor of Bigtree’s leadership.
‘It feels like a spring break party cruise. Del has been heard on multiple occasions saying, “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 ‘back-slapping culture where everything is ‘unbelievable!’ and magical for this campaign’, even as the operation struggles with basic campaign tasks.
“The field is severely undercapitalized for ballot access, while National is relatively overcapitalized, with some positions appearing to simply do Zoom calls all day,” the letter said.
Kennedy’s campaign faces a major hurdle in getting his name on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate in every state.
“It bothers me every day that so many in the campaign cannot see the iceberg in front of us called ballot access,” the resignation letter continued.
The Kennedy campaign referred Dailymail.com to a previous statement shared with Mediaite in response to the complaints.
‘With over a hundred staff members 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 in the last three decades, we wish them nothing but the best,” the statement read.
The questions about Kennedy’s campaign leadership come just after he received a big boost with a $7 million Super Bowl ad, funded by a super PAC supporting his campaign.
The ad replaced RFK’s face over an old JFK television ad from 1960, which upset members of Kennedy’s family.
Kennedy apologized and distanced himself from the ad, but still has it pinned to the top of his campaign profile on X.