Green groups call on voters to oppose RFK Jr.

Several of the nation's top environmental groups publicly disavowed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calling the independent presidential candidate and former green group leader a "dangerous conspiracy theorist and science denier" who could pave the way for former President Donald Trump's reelection.

The remarks in a Friday letter amount to a sharp rebuke of Kennedy, who until 2020 led environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, but whose views casting doubt on the effectiveness of vaccines had long caused a rift with other green organizations.

Kennedy's entry into the presidential race amplified the friction with the environmental movement. Many activists contend Kennedy's candidacy could cost President Joe Biden the White House by drawing young progressive, environmental voters away, helping to reelect Trump, who has vowed to tear down Biden's green policies.

"With so much at stake, we stand united in denouncing RFK Jr.’s false environmentalist claims. We can’t, in good conscience, let him continue co-opting the credibility and successes of our movement for his own personal benefit," the groups wrote in the letter, which was published in The New York Times. "Any support for this Kennedy-in-name-only will inevitably result in a second Trump term and the complete erosion of vital environmental and social gains made to date."

Signatories of the letter included the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, Sunrise Movement, Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, Earthjustice Action, Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, Climate Emergency Advocates, Food & Water Action, Friends of the Earth Action, NextGen America, 350 Action and Climate Power.

Trump leads Biden in several national polls, though the race is tight. Third-party candidates like Kennedy are potentially pulling support from Biden: A Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics youth poll released Thursday showed Biden's electoral edge over Trump among voters under 30 was smaller with third-party candidates in the race.

"He may have once been an environmental attorney, but now RFK Jr. is peddling the term 'climate change orthodoxy' and making empty promises to clean up our environment with superficial proposals," the green groups wrote in the letter. "The truth is, by rejecting science, what he offers is no different than Donald Trump."

Kennedy's campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.