Impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. mentioned Friday he’s suspending his marketing campaign and threw his assist behind former President Donald Trump — the GOP presidential nominee.
The announcement from the environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist, who has held on to a long-shot presidential bid, comes only a day after Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted her get together’s nomination on the Democratic Nationwide Conference.
“It’s with a way of victory and never defeat that I’m suspending my marketing campaign actions,” Kennedy mentioned in Phoenix, Arizona, throughout a prolonged information convention.
“Not solely did we do the unimaginable by accumulating 1,000,000 signatures, however we modified the nationwide political dialog eternally,” he mentioned, including that “I can say to all who’ve labored so onerous the final year-and-a-half — thanks for a job effectively carried out.”
Kennedy acknowledged that he “can not, in good conscience, ask my workers and volunteers to maintain working their lengthy hours, or ask my donors to maintain giving once I can not truthfully inform them that I’ve an actual path to the White Home.”
He clarified that he’s not terminating his marketing campaign and that his title will “stay on the poll in most states.”
The third-party candidate mentioned he would take away his title from the poll in about 10 battleground states “the place my presence can be a spoiler.” He didn’t specify the states.
He mentioned voters who reside in a blue state can vote for him “with out harming or serving to (former) President Trump or Vice President Harris.”
In response, Trump thanked Kennedy throughout a marketing campaign occasion in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“That was very good,” the previous president mentioned, including that Kennedy is a “nice man” and “revered by all people.”
Kennedy drew hypothesis about withdrawing his candidacy and backing Trump within the days main as much as the Friday announcement. On Thursday, he filed the paperwork to withdraw his title from Arizona’s poll, per Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in a publish on X.
Kennedy has confronted dwindling polling numbers and monetary hassle for his marketing campaign whereas endeavor a monumental process in getting on states’ ballots as an unbiased candidate. He initially ran as a Democrat however switched to an unbiased ticket in October 2023.
Kennedy — son of Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of John F. Kennedy — is a part of probably the most storied households in Democratic politics. All through his marketing campaign, he amplified anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and was seen as a doable spoiler candidate.
Harris-Walz marketing campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon mentioned “for any American on the market who’s uninterested in Donald Trump and on the lookout for a brand new approach ahead, ours is a marketing campaign for you,” per a Friday assertion in response to Kennedy suspending his marketing campaign.
“As a way to ship for working individuals and people who really feel left behind, we’d like a frontrunner who will combat for you, not only for themselves, and produce us collectively, not tear us aside. Vice President Harris needs to earn your assist.”
In the meantime, Trump is ready to talk in Glendale, Arizona, later Friday. His marketing campaign mentioned Thursday {that a} “particular visitor” would be part of him on the rally.