Chase Duncan
palmettoreport@gmail.com

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democratic presidential candidate for the 2024 election,  continued his campaign tour of South Carolina at Winthrop University Sept. 10, where he greeted more than 500 students, staff and Rock Hill community members.

A lifelong Democrat, Kennedy is the son of former Senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy.

He opened the town hall by speaking about the causes for the high number of homeless people in big cities like San Francisco, where he said he was appalled to see popular shopping centers and tourist destinations like Union Square closed.

“All the stores were closed, every store was shut down,” Kennedy said. “The occupancy rate in office buildings was down to 35 percent; other buildings built 40 years ago for $350 million were now on sale for $100 million. What they say is the reason for that is the influx of homeless people is making it so the tourists won’t come there anymore.”

The presidential candidate, who may soon announce his intent to run as an independent, also said the greatest issue driving homelessness is the lack of affordable and accessible housing.

“Most people say it has to do with drug addiction, with poverty, with mental illness,” Kennedy said. “Yet, West Virginia has much higher drug addiction rates and much higher poverty rates and San Francisco is one of the wealthiest cities in our country, still with presumably equal mental illness or more.”

Kennedy’s visit to Winthrop was brought on by the university’s Presidential Election Initiative, which aims to bring conversations about national politics to the campus, by hosting lectures with key political figures, according to the Winthrop website.

“Winthrop University has had presidential candidates come in since the 2008 election, 2012 election, 2016, 2020,” said Dr. Jennifer Disney, chair of Winthrop’s political science department. “So, we’re thrilled to be inviting presidential candidates for the decision 2024 through the auspices of the Presidential Election Initiative.”

Kennedy ended his campaign speech at McBryde Hall by asking the crowd to vote on whether they would like to ask him questions about his speech and campaign plans or take a crowd selfie with him. The crowd chose the selfie.

More candidates will likely visit Winthrop over the next year during the build up to 2024 U.S presidential election.