Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his long-running presidential campaign on Friday, throwing his support behind former President Donald Trump in a bid to shake up the already tumultuous 2024 race.
Kennedy took a unique approach to ending his campaign, emphasizing that he was only withdrawing his name from the 10 swing states. Otherwise, he suggested to his supporters that they still vote for him in blue or red districts.
“Our election has always shown that by staying on the ballot, I can give votes to Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most pressing issues,” Kennedy said at a press conference in Arizona. announce his decision.
Kennedy said that in a series of meetings with Trump and his team, he realized that he shares more in common with the former president than he thought. He compared their collaboration to President Abraham Lincoln’s famous “group of dissidents,” where he filled his Cabinet with former enemies.
Kennedy said: “I was surprised to find that we agreed on many important issues. “At those meetings, he proposed that we come together as a unity party.”
Kennedy said their understanding “allows us to disagree publicly and privately and fiercely.”
In recent days, the Kennedy campaign has shown signs of strain. His latest financial report showed that he was burning through cash without raising enough money to keep pace. His partner, attorney Nicole Shanahan, recently suggested that she doesn’t want to continue to fund a major part of his third-party campaign to end up as a lobbyist.
Kennedy – scion of the Democratic Party’s most famous family – has been critical of Trump in the past but has since embraced the GOP nominee’s policy positions, particularly by pushing vaccine skepticism.
The Democratic National Committee appeared unfazed by his decision, saying it would hurt Trump.
“The more voters learn about RFK Jr. the less they like him. Donald Trump doesn’t get the endorsements that will help build support, he inherits the baggage of a failed candidate,” Mary Beth Cahill, senior adviser to the DNC. said in a statement. “Good explanation.”
Some of Kennedy’s brothers received the news with sad resignation.
“My brother Bobby’s decision to support Trump today is a betrayal of the values ​​that our father and our family hold dear,” said Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, one of Kennedy’s sisters and former governor of Maryland, they said in a statement along with four others. family members. “It’s a sad ending to a sad story.”
Trump also welcomed Kennedy’s views more than Vice President Kamala Harris, who, according to The Washington Post, did not respond through her advisers to Kennedy’s request for a meeting. Meanwhile, the agency reports that Trump and Kennedy met in person.
Kennedy seemed poised to participate in the 2024 election when it appeared that President Joe Biden and Trump were destined to return. Earlier polls showed Kennedy close to double-digit support in the face of a Trump-Biden rematch that Americans didn’t want.
But, like Trump, Kennedy has fallen flat over the summer. It hasn’t helped matters that his campaign has been dogged by strange stories, including his recent confirmation that he dumped a bear carcass in Central Park years ago.
Kennedy, who was a highly respected environmental lawyer, has become well known for his anti-vaccination advocacy. In April 2023, he announced that he would challenge Biden in the Democratic primary.
But Kennedy struggled to find ground against a sitting president who was widely thought at the time to be heading for a showdown with Trump. In October, Kennedy announced that he would run as an independent candidate.
Without a major party organization, Kennedy needed to raise more money to expand his campaign and qualify for statewide elections. He chose Shanahan, a Silicon Valley philanthropist and lawyer, as his running mate. He would later joke that his degree was his greatest asset.
Banking heir Timothy Mellon, a major Trump supporter, backed a pro-Kennedy super PAC, raising concerns that Kennedy could hurt Biden’s chances. But the polls also showed that Kennedy could cut through Trump’s base, prompting the former president to increase his criticism.
Kennedy covered his candidacy in pictures of his famous family, which led many of his relatives to publicly denounce him. Some of the Kennedys also showed support for Biden before the president dropped out of the 2024 race.
Throughout his campaign, Kennedy has been embroiled in a number of controversies, from his unfounded COVID-related theory of a “socially targeted” virus to his commitment to to “take sides” in the conspiracies surrounding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.