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Donald Trump speaks during a rally as former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks on in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., August 23, 2024. (Reuters)
Kennedy, 70, condemned the selection of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic standard-bearer without a primary contest
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr on Friday suspended his long-shot presidential bid and endorsed Donald Trump, injecting new uncertainty into the White House race.
“I no longer believe that I have a realistic path of electoral victory,” Kennedy, scion of America’s storied political clan, who was polling in the low single digits, said at a press conference in swing state Arizona.
Kennedy, 70, condemned the selection of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic standard-bearer without a primary contest and cited a long list of grievances against his former party that he said had led him to now “throw my support to President Trump.”
‘Aligned on other key issues’
It was however unclear whether Kennedy’s endorsement would help Trump, who is in a tight contest with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Kennedy, 70, told a news conference earlier that he met with Trump and his aides several times and learned they agreed on issues like border security, free speech and ending wars.
“There are still many issues and approaches on which we continue to have very serious differences. But we are aligned on other key issues,” he told reporters. He reiterated much of that when he joined Trump at the Arizona rally and repeated positions on his core issues of combating chronic illness and ridding the environment and food supply of hazardous chemicals.
Kennedy assassination
With Kennedy by his side, the former US president on stage said that if he regained the White House, he would create a presidential commission on assassination attempts and release files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Robert Kennedy, known by his initials RFK Jr., said he would remove his name from ballots in 10 battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the election and remain as a candidate in other states.
RFK Jr.
An environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist and son and nephew of two titans of Democratic politics who were assassinated during the turbulent 1960s, Kennedy entered the race in April 2023 as a challenger to President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.
With some voters at the time turned off by both the aging Biden and the legally embattled Trump, interest in Kennedy soared. He later decided to run as an independent, and a November 2023 Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Kennedy with 20% support in a three-way race with Biden and Trump.
‘Sad story’
He ran a high-profile advertisement during the February 2024 Super Bowl that invoked his father, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and uncle, President Kennedy, and drew outrage from much of his high-profile family. His sister Kerry Kennedy said on Friday that his decision to endorse Trump betrayed the family’s values. “It is a sad ending to a sad story,” she said on social media.
An Ipsos poll this month showed his national support had fallen to 4%, a tiny number but one that could still be meaningful in a tight race such as the current Trump-Harris matchup. Democrats shrugged off Friday’s announcement. “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,” Democratic National Committee senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill said in a statement.
(With agency inputs)
