Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr says he will suspend his campaign, and has endorsed Republican Donald Trump, likely ending a presidential bid that he began as a Democrat trading on one of the most famous names in US politics.
His campaign indicated that he feared staying in the race would siphon support from former president Trump, who is locked in a tight contest with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the November 5 election.
He cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons to try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.
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“These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent and now to throw my support to president Trump,” Kennedy said.
An environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist and son and nephew of two titans of Democratic politics who were assassinated during the turbulent 1960s, Kennedy entered the race in April 2023 as a challenger to President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.
With voters at the time turned off by both the aging Biden and the legally embattled Trump, interest in Kennedy soared.
He shifted his plans and decided to run as an independent, and a November 2023 Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Kennedy drawing the support of 20 per cent in a three-way race with Biden and Trump.
He ran a high-profile advertisement during the February 2024 Super Bowl that invoked his father, US Senator Robert F Kennedy, and uncle, US President John F Kennedy, and drew outrage from much of his high-profile family, who condemned his campaign.
For a time, both the Biden and Trump campaigns showed signs they were worried that Kennedy could draw enough support to change the election outcome.
He faced an uphill battle in winning spots on the ballot as an independent but secured key positions including in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota and North Carolina – half of the competitive swing states expected to determine the election’s outcome.
But as the race changed quickly in the last two months – with Trump surviving an assassination attempt and the 81-year-old Biden bowing to pressure from his own party and passing the campaign torch to Harris – voter interest in Kennedy, 70, waned.
An Ipsos poll early this month indicated his support had fallen to 4 per cent, a tiny number, but one that could still be meaningful in a tight race such as the current Trump-Harris match-up.
His campaign had signalled over the past few days that a change was coming, as Kennedy set his Phoenix address.
His running mate Nicole Shanahan said in an interview earlier that if the pair stayed in the race as independents, they could ultimate boost Harris’ chances.
In exchange for endorsing Trump, Kennedy was hoping for a job in a potential Trump administration, a super PAC supporting Kennedy told Reuters on Wednesday.
He also wanted Trump to allow his political movement to continue in some fashion, which could include staying on the ballot in some states.
Democrats shrugged off Kennedy’s announcement on Friday.
“Donald Trump isn’t earning an endorsement that’s going to help build support, he’s inheriting the baggage of a failed fringe candidate. Good riddance,” Democratic National Committee senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill said in a statement.
Kennedy painted himself as a political outsider.
He told Reuters in an interview in March that if elected president he would not restrict abortion, would repeal many provisions of Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act and would seek to close down the southern border to immigrants entering the US illegally.
He also offered staunch support for Israel.
Harris accepted her party’s presidential nomination in a speech on Thursday night to close out the Democratic National Convention.
with AP