Who are Kennedy’s Tampa Bay voters?

Erin Linser was a lifelong Democrat. Her husband, Corey Linser, was a Republican. The young couple, who moved to North Port from Ohio, said they rarely agreed on politics.

Then, they found Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“This is the first time we’ve liked the same candidate,” said Erin Linser, who is still registered to vote in Ohio.

The major parties are finding their footing after a few tumultuous weeks. Democrats appear to be coalescing around Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday. And support for Donald Trump among Republicans seems even more solid after the former president was shot at a campaign event.

But some Tampa Bay voters are still rallying behind Kennedy, a longshot independent candidate known for his famous political family and vaccine skepticism.

Many of Kennedy’s supporters say they’re disillusioned with partisan politics and are shedding their Republican or Democratic affiliations. Kennedy, they say, offers a fresh perspective and reason to hope.

The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy has been branded as a radical by both the left and right. Democrats say he’s a conspiracy theorist who spews unfounded claims about COVID-19 vaccines, gender identity and antidepressants. Republicans call him an extreme liberal.

Kennedy’s supporters, meanwhile, say he’s a rare truth-teller committed to disrupting establishment politics.

“If people have an open mind and look at what he’s done in his career, I don’t see how he won’t win the election,” said Bob Connors, a radio show host from Sarasota.

“Let Bobby debate”

A few dozen Kennedy fans flocked to Lykes Gaslight Square Park in Tampa for a “Let Bobby debate” rally in June.

The event was part of a nationwide effort to protest CNN’s exclusion of the candidate from the presidential debate stage that month after Kennedy failed to hit the network’s polling and ballot access requirements. His campaign accused the news network of collusion and held an independent debate the same night.

Kennedy hovers below 10% in the polls. In recent weeks, he’s canceled multiple campaign events and weighed a job in a second Trump administration, according to reporting by the Washington Post.

But his campaign says Kennedy will remain in the race. An email to supporters on Monday said he’s “surging.”

Kennedy is an environmental lawyer and activist known for promoting conspiracy theories. He has suggested chemical exposures impact the sexual and gender development of children and said mass shootings have gone up because of increased use of antidepressants.

He also falsely linked vaccines to autism and called the COVID-19 shot “a crime against humanity.” The World Health Organization in 2019 listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health.

At the Tampa event, two young children in “Kennedy ‘24″ baseball caps ran from corner to corner along Kennedy Boulevard, sidestepping older attendees who waved campaign flags. A large bus, plastered with Kennedy slogans and images of the candidate’s face, blared music. Passing cars honked every few minutes in support.

Attendees said they were frustrated with partisan politics. They complained about corruption and collusion in the federal government. Some said they wished to do away with the Electoral College and the two-party system.

“I’ve lost so much faith in the government because either way it goes, it screws everyone,” Hannah Allred, a 29-year-old Tampa artist, said at the rally. She spray-painted “Kennedy 2024″ on the side of the bus in red, white and blue as she spoke.

“It’s been a lifetime of having an open third eye, seeing the truth that it’s all bulls--t,” Allred said. “This guy, you know, he’s a bit less bulls--t.”

The spoiler effect

Even though Kennedy is polling below 10%, Democrats and Republicans alike worry the independent could act as a spoiler and siphon off enough support in key states to cost their candidate the election.

Connors said the mainstream media, large corporations and the pharmaceutical industry have colluded against Kennedy.

“They all just say he’s a quack,” said Connors, who supports Kennedy’s anti-corruption and environmental work.

Corey Linser, 31, agreed. “I know people who are closeted Kennedy fans.”

Roger Hayes, the campaign’s director in Florida, said he’s seen an uptick in support in recent weeks. Kennedy-curious Democrats were confused and frustrated after Biden dropped out, he said.

“They can’t understand how President Biden could decline so quickly when people around him vouched for his mental capacity,” Hayes said. “It seemed like they were concealing, withholding information.”

Hayes also said the campaign hopes to pick up some anti-Trump Republicans who are disillusioned after not seeing a less divisive candidate after Trump was shot at a rally in July. “They were hoping he would have some introspection and come out a changed person, but he’s not.”

The campaign is working to get on the ballot in all 50 states — a costly and time-consuming effort. Kennedy is officially on the ballot in fewer than ten states and “in progress” in more than a dozen others, including Florida.

Joseph Anthony, a volunteer coordinator for Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk counties, said the campaign for Kennedy is grassroots. The Florida team ramped up door-to-door canvassing and fundraising efforts in July, he said.

“He’s attracted free thinkers, many centrists and moderates who feel disenfranchised with their party,” he said.

Anthony has never worked on a campaign before, but said he “saw how bad it’s gotten in Washington.” He got involved after hearing Kennedy speak on a podcast last year.

Anthony said he supports Kennedy for his work on environmental litigation, his stance on censorship and his focus on corruption in the federal government and big businesses. If it weren’t for Kennedy’s persistent skepticism about vaccines, he said, “he’d be the DNC’s first choice.”

But others at the Tampa rally said Kennedy’s focus on vaccines is a plus.

Lora Nigro, 61, and Kevin Rutkowski, 62, a musician couple from South Tampa, said they appreciate the candidate’s stance on bodily autonomy. Kennedy supports abortion and questions vaccine mandates.

Connors rebuked the term “anti-vaxxer” and said Kennedy promotes more regulations and testing for the drugs. He said he supports the Children’s Defense Fund, an organization Kennedy founded that frequently espouses misinformation.

Months before the November election, Connors is confident.

“How could you vote for anybody else?” he said.