- Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is suspending his long-shot presidential bid.
- Kennedy Jr. first entered the race as a Democratic primary challenger to President Joe Biden.
- He said he was supporting former President Donald Trump on Friday.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his long shot presidential campaign on Friday, throwing his support behind former President Donald Trump in a bid to shake up an already chaotic 2024 race.
Kennedy took a unique approach in ending his campaign, stressing that he was only removing his name from the ballot in 10 swing states. Otherwise, he encouraged his supporters to still vote for him in states that are overwhelmingly blue or red.
"Our polling consistently showed that by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues," Kennedy said at a news conference in Arizona announcing his decision.
Kennedy said that in a series of meetings with Trump and his team, he realized he shared more in common with the former president than he thought. He compared their potential partnership to President Lincoln's famous "Team of Rivals," which saw him stock his Cabinet with former foes.
"I was surprised to discover that we are aligned on many key issues," Kennedy said. "In those meetings, he suggested that we join forces as a unity party."
Kennedy said their understanding "allows us to disagree publicly and privately and fiercely."
In recent days, Kennedy's campaign has shown signs of strain. His most recent financial report showed he was burning through cash without raising enough money to keep pace. Attorney Nicole Shanahan, his running mate, also suggested that she did not want to continue to fund the bulk of his third-party run only to end up as a spoiler.
Kennedy — a member of the Democratic Party's most famous family — had been critical of Trump in the past, but has since adopted policy positions that mirror the GOP nominee, most notably by pushing vaccine skepticism.
Trump has also been far more receptive to Kennedy's overtures than Vice President Kamala Harris, who, according to The Washington Post, did not respond through her advisors to Kennedy's request for a meeting. Meanwhile, the outlet reported that Trump and Kennedy have met in-person.
Kennedy seemed primed to be a factor in the 2024 election when it appeared that President Joe Biden and Trump were destined for a rematch. Early polls showed that Kennedy was nearing double-digit support when faced with a likely Trump-Biden rematch that Americans didn't want.
But, like Trump, Kennedy has faltered over the summer. It hasn't helped matters that his campaign has been dogged by bizarre stories, including his belated confirmation that he dumped a bear carcass in Central Park years ago.
A scion of one of the most storied Democratic Party dynasties in modern US history, Kennedy, who rose to fame as an environmental lawyer, has become best known for his anti-vaccine advocacy. In April 2023, he announced that he was primarying Biden.
But Kennedy struggled to find ground against a sitting president who was then widely assumed to be cruising to a rematch with Trump. By October, Kennedy announced he would run as an independent candidate instead.
Without a major party's organization, Kennedy needed to raise massive sums to grow his campaign and qualify for each state's ballot. He selected Shanahan, a philanthropist and Silicon Valley lawyer, as his running mate. She would later joke that her main qualification was her massive fortune.
Early polls showed that Kennedy was nearing double-digit support when faced with a likely Trump-Biden rematch that Americans didn't want. Banking heir Timothy Mellon, a major Trump supporter, financed a pro-Kennedy super PAC, raising concerns that Kennedy would spoil Biden's chances. But polling also showed that Kennedy could cut into Trump's base, leading the former president to step up his criticism of him.
Kennedy cloaked his candidacy in images of his famous family, which led many of his relatives to criticize him publicly. Some Kennedy's also made a show of endorsing Biden before the president dropped out of the 2024 race.
Throughout his campaign, Kennedy has been mired in myriad controversies, from airing a baseless COVID-related theory about the virus being "ethnically targeted" to his vow not to "take sides" regarding conspiracies surrounding the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
