WASHINGTON — As Robert F. Kennedy Jr., becomes President-elect Donald Trump's latest Cabinet pick to get his moment in the limelight on Capitol Hill this week, a health care advocacy group is seeking to influence key senators to oppose his appointment to the Health and Human Services secretary role. 

What You Need To Know

  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy is making his rounds on Capitol Hill this week, sitting down for meetings with key senators as he looks to shore up enough support to be confirmed as the next Health and Human Services secretary in President-elect Donald Trump's second administration
  • Coinciding with his descension on Capitol Hill, Protect Our Care, an organization focused on health issues, announced it is launching a new campaign, complete with paid advertisements and billboards, in an effort to pressure particular senators to vote against RFK Jr.’s bid to take the position in Trump’s cabinet 
  • The group is specifically targeting a dozen Republican senators in 10 different states that it believes could be influenced to oppose his ascension to the role in the new year, when Trump’s picks will go through confirmation hearings run by the Senate
  • The former Democratic presidential candidate has faced some pushback over his skepticism of vaccines and stance on fluoride in particular while his past less-than-straightforward comments on abortion have sparked concerns among some pro-life Republicans

 

This week, Protect Our Care, an organization focused on health issues, announced it is launching a new campaign, complete with paid advertisements and billboards, in an effort to pressure particular senators to vote against RFK Jr.’s bid to take the position in Trump’s cabinet. 

The group is specifically targeting a dozen Republican senators in 10 different states that it believes could be influenced to oppose his ascension to the role in the new year, when Trump’s picks will go through confirmation hearings run by the Senate. Those include Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa; Mike Crapo of Idaho; Susan Collins of Maine; Bill Cassidy of Louisiana; Thom Tillis of North Carolina; Mike Rounds of South Dakota; John Cornyn of Texas; John Curtis of Utah; and Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice of West Virginia. 

“Nurses, Scientists and the Wall Street Journal oppose RFK for HHS,” the billboards – which are going up in cities in Idaho, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia – read. They then go on to name the individual senator in the state followed by “you should too.”  

It comes as Kennedy is making his rounds on Capitol Hill this week, sitting down for meetings with more than 20 senators, according to multiple outlets, as he looks to shore up enough support to be confirmed in the upper chamber next year. 

GOP Sens. Steve Daines of Montana, James Lankford of Oklahoma and Roger Marshall of Kansas all offered compliments for Trump’s choice for the chief Health and Human Services role in separate posts on X after sitting down with him on Tuesday. 

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama referred to his meeting with RFK as a “breath of fresh air” on Tuesday. 

Some Democrats have not ruled out the possibility of supporting Kennedy, such as well-known progressive Sen. Bernie Sander (an independent who caucuses with Democrats) who said earlier this month that one of RFK’s stances, regarding the food industry, was “exactly correct.” 

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told CNN on Tuesday that she wanted to look at Kennedy’s “full record” but did “appreciate” some of his views on food safety issues and clean air and water. 

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, meanwhile, told CNN she did not believe Kennedy was qualified for the position, referring to him as an “anti-vaxxer.”

The former Democratic presidential candidate has faced pushback over his history of spreading misinformation and false claims about vaccines and stance on fluoride, while his past less-than-straightforward comments on abortion have sparked concerns among some pro-life Republicans. 

This week in particular attention has focused on reporting from the New York Times that a lawyer for Kennedy once asked the Food and Drug Administration to rescind approval of the polio vaccine. 

Trump himself on Monday sought to shoot down chatter about the future of the vaccine under a potential RFK Health and Human Services Department, saying he is a “big believer” in the polio shot.