Presidential candidate RFK Jr. merits Secret Service protection

Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running a long-shot campaign against incumbent Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. He's polling at about 15%, nearly 50 points behind the president. Among the party faithful, his unfavorable ratings are quite high, according to a compilation of surveys published this month on FiveThirtyEight.

Nevertheless, the White House is taking no chances given Biden's obvious and many vulnerabilities. Rather than ignore Kennedy, the administration has from time to time harshly criticized his public statements, some of which have been controversial. And now Kennedy complains that the president is taking more subtle swipes in an effort to minimize his candidacy.

Last month, Kennedy tweeted that he had sought Secret Service protection, but that the agency ignored his request and then turned him down. "Since the assassination of my father in 1968, candidates for president are provided Secret Service protection. But not me," he wrote.

His campaign manager, the quixotic Dennis Kucinich, who also ran a long-odds presidential campaign in 2008, went further. "The American people, no matter their politics, will find this decision shocking and repugnant," Kucinich said in a statement. "This is obviously a political decision, not a legal one. As such, this is directly on President Biden."

The Secret Service notes on its website that it offers protection to "major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses within 120 days of a presidential election." We're about 11 months away from that threshold. But since 1980, a number of candidates — including Barack Obama — have been granted protection well before the 120-day standard applied, although rarely this far out.

Another issue is the definition of a "major" candidate. Federal law leaves that up to the Department of Homeland Security and a bipartisan panel of House and Senate leaders. While the Biden camp will be loath to admit it, surely a candidate with double-digit support qualifies under this standard even if he is well behind the front-runner.

Then there's Kennedy's family history. His uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was felled by an assassin's bullet in 1963, and his father, Robert F. Kennedy, was shot and killed while seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. As CNN reports, President Jimmy Carter granted Secret Service protection to Ted Kennedy, another RFK Jr. uncle, shortly after he announced his 1980 presidential run.

Kennedy's request is neither unprecedented nor unreasonable. It is also understandable given the historical circumstances. Political considerations are a distraction in this case. The Secret Service and the Biden administration should re-examine the decision to deny him protection.