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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suspended his campaign for the White House and endorsed Donald Trump, claiming that Democrats “tried to dismantle” democracy and conspired to bar him from the election.
The third-party candidate received less than 5% support and failed to appear on the ballot in many states amid a bizarre campaign that included stories of him having had part of his brain eaten by worms and dumping a dead bear in New York’s Central Park.
“I want people to know that I’m not quitting the campaign. I’m not just going to suspend the campaign and be done with it,” Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy, said Friday in Phoenix, the capital of battleground state Arizona.
Kennedy’s announcement could give the Trump campaign a slight boost, as the former president is trailing Democratic rival Kamala Harris in many national and battleground state polls with just two and a half months until the Nov. 5 election.
But a New York Times/Siena College poll released Saturday found that 35% of Kennedy supporters said they would switch to Trump, while 34% said they would support Harris.
Kennedy said he has been “very critical” of many of the Trump administration’s policies, but the two men now agree on issues such as ending the war in Ukraine through talks with Russian President Putin, securing America’s southern border and protecting free speech.
“We got a very, very nice endorsement from RFK Jr.,” Trump said Friday while campaigning in Nevada. “I want to thank Bobby. This is a big thing. He’s a great guy. He’s well respected by everybody.”
in statement In a post on X, five of RFK Jr.’s siblings called his decision to support Trump “a betrayal of the values our father and our family hold most dear. A sad ending to a sad story.”
Trump is scheduled to hold a rally near Phoenix later on Friday, and his campaign has announced that a “mystery guest” will be in attendance, with many speculating it could be Kennedy.
“For every American who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way, our campaign is for you,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement after Kennedy’s announcement.
Mr Kennedy said Mr Trump had asked the pair to “join forces as a united party”. He said he had approached Ms Harris about it but she “refused to meet or even speak with me”.
Kennedy on Friday accused Democrats of “censorship and control of the media,” saying Democrats conspired to thwart a “serious challenge” to President Joe Biden and then conspired with the media to “[engineer] This led to a “popular surge” for her successor, Harris.
Before launching his dream presidential bid, Kennedy gained fame as a vaccine skeptic, an environmental lawyer and a fighter against what he called an “epidemic” of chronic disease among American children – and a longtime drug abuse survivor.
Before leaving office on Friday, Kennedy’s national approval rating was 4.7%, well ahead of Harris’ 47.2% and Trump’s 43.5%, according to the FiveThirtyEight average.
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