Blog

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s super PAC, American Values 2024, aired a 30-second ad about the independent candidate’s presidential campaign during Super Bowl LVIII Sunday. 

The ad highlighted images of the 70-year-old candidate in a vintage look, while using slogans, clips and a jingle that leaned into the legacy of his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy.  

Super PAC co-founder Tony Lyons confirmed to CBS News that the Super Bowl ad cost $7 million. 

“The panicked DC power brokers are working overtime to keep Kennedy off the ballot because they know he can and will end their culture of greed and corruption. They offer us soaring inflation, forever wars, and chronic disease,” Lyons said in a statement sent to CBS News.

As of today, Kennedy has only officially qualified for the ballot in Utah. According to the campaign, he met the signature threshold on Jan. 23, but the campaign is still working on paperwork.

On Friday, the Democratic National Committee filed an FEC filing against Kennedy’s campaign and his super PAC, claiming the two are colluding to get Kennedy on the ballot. 

“Like his uncle and his father, Kennedy is a corruption-fighter, and it’s no wonder the DNC is trying every old trick and inventing new tricks to stop him. The public sees through it all and won’t stand for it,” Lyons said Sunday. 

Political strategist Robert Shrum, a speechwriter and consultant for the late former Sen. Ted Kennedy, said on social media that “this RFK Jr. Super Bowl ad is a straight out plagiarism of JFK ad from 1960. What a fraud – and to quote Lloyd Bentsen with a slight amendment, “Bobby, you’re no John Kennedy.” Instead you are a Trump ally.”

The independent presidential candidate has not received the support from his family. In October 2023, when he announced he was going to run independently instead of as a Democrat, his siblings published a statement calling his decision “dangerous to the country.”