Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Friday dropped his White House bid and announced support for former President Donald Trump, issuing broadsides against the Democratic Party’s handling of the primary election and media censorship.
“…I’ve made the heart-wrenching decision to suspend my campaign and to support President Trump. This decision is agonizing for me because of the difficulties it causes me, and my children and my friends,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy said in Phoenix that the Democratic Party “waged continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself,” and “ran a sham primary.”
DOES KENNEDY’S DEPARTURE FROM THE 2024 RACE HELP TRUMP MORE THAN HARRIS?
“In an honest system, I believe I would have won the election,” he said. “I no longer believe that I have a realistic past of electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control.”
Kennedy’s campaign is asking swing states to remove his name from the ballot because he does not want to be a “spoiler,” he said. He will remain on the ballot in states that he considers “red” or “blue,” he said. “If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or or Vice President Harris,” Kennedy said. “In red states, the same will apply.”
The former Democrat spoke a couple of hours before Trump was scheduled to hold a campaign event in nearby Glendale, Arizona. The Trump campaign on Thursday advertised that the former president would be joined by a “special guest,” which further sparked speculation of a Kennedy endorsement of the Republican 2024 presidential nominee.
The announcement ends the presidential run by the longtime environmental activist and high-profile vaccine skeptic, who is the scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty.
Kennedy launched his long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in April of last year, but last October the 70-year-old candidate switched to an independent run for the White House.
While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, who were both assassinated in the 1960s, Kennedy in recent years has built relationships with leaders on the right. Kennedy repeatedly invoked his father and uncle Friday in Phoenix.
“If he endorsed me, I would be honored by it. I would be very honored by it. He really has his heart in the right place,” Trump said on Thursday in an interview on “Fox & Friends.”
And the former president’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, said Wednesday in an interview on “Fox & Friends” that he hoped Kennedy “endorses the president, gets on the team, because this is about saving the country.”
Kennedy’s departure from the race comes as his campaign was cratering.
The last public event put on by his campaign came on July 9, in Freeport, Maine. But even before that, his poll numbers – which once stood in the teens – had faded.
The most recent Fox News national poll, conducted August 9-12, indicated Kennedy at 6% support.
His fundraising was also in a free fall, with campaign finance reports indicating he had just $3.9 million cash on hand as of the start of July, with nearly $3.5 million in debt.
“The more voters learned about RFK Jr. the less they liked him. 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,” said DNC Senior Advisor Mary Beth Cahill following Kennedy’s speech.
In light of Kennedy’s campaign modifications made Friday, the Harris-Walz campaign released a statement.
“For any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you. In order to deliver for working people and those who feel left behind, we need a leader who will fight for you, not just for themselves, and bring us together, not tear us apart. Vice President Harris wants to earn your support,” said Harris-Walz 2024 Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon.
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