Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had another round of meetings with senators this week — only this time, not all of them were willing to share post-meeting messages of support on X for him, let alone say they’d vote for his nomination to health secretary.
Sen. John Fetterman, for instance, didn’t say if he’d vote for Kennedy after meeting with him this week. He told reporters he knows he will vote for some of Donald Trump’s nominees, but he’s waiting for the hearings to decide on others. And Sen. Bernie Sanders declined to comment on his meeting with Kennedy.
But just getting meetings with Democratic and independent senators could be considered a win for Kennedy, who is also scheduled to meet with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey and Sen. Mark Warner, among others. Without Democratic support, Kennedy can only afford to lose three votes from Republican senators — some of whom were still undecided after meeting with him this week.
“We had a good meeting,” Sen. Chuck Grassley told reporters, saying they discussed agriculture. But he added that he’s not fully decided on Kennedy and needs to see how the hearings go.
Sen. Bill Cassidy declined to tell reporters if he would vote for Kennedy after meeting with him. He said they discussed vaccines and had a “good conversation,” but he wouldn’t say if it was enough to assuage his concerns about Kennedy’s views on vaccines.
“I don’t know the man; I’ve just heard about him in the press,” Sen. John Cornyn told reporters on Wednesday before his scheduled meeting with Kennedy. “So I’d be interested in trying to see whether some of the things that have been reported about him were actually based in fact, things like, obviously, the role of vaccines is going to be one of them.”
When asked if he was concerned about Kennedy’s views on vaccines, Cornyn said, “I want to find out.”
Kennedy told reporters this week that “erroneous” statements have been made about his stance on vaccines. He declined to give details on how his meetings with senators have been going, saying only that they’ve been “very productive” and he has his fingers crossed.
Other senators still seemed to be waiting for their chance to meet with the nominee.
Sen. Andy Kim told reporters that he’s reached out to Kennedy to try and set up a meeting. And when asked if he was meeting with Kennedy this week, Sen. Cory Booker responded, “I will meet with any nominee.”
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Margaret Manto is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Katherine Swartz contributed reporting.