Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abanonded his campaign on Friday and endorsed Republican Donald Trump, ending a presidential bid that he began as a Democrat trading on one of the most famous names in American politics.
His campaign indicated that he feared staying in the race would siphon support from former president Trump, who is locked in a tight contest with Democratic vice president Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Kennedy said he met with Trump and his aides several times and learned they agreed on issues like border security, free speech, and ending wars.
"Three great causes drove me to enter this race in the first place, and these are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the democratic Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump," Kennedy said at a press conference in Phoenix, Arizona. "The causes were free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on our children."
An Ipsos poll early this month showed his national support had fallen to 4 percent, a tiny number, but one that could still be meaningful in a tight race such as the current Trump-Harris matchup. Kennedy said he would remove his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the election but would remain as a candidate in other states he considered "red" or "blue."
An environmental lawyer 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. Kennedy shifted his plans and decided to run as an independent. In his speech Friday he denounced the Democratic Party for becoming "the party of war, censorship, corruption, big Pharma, big tech, and big money."
"In the name of saving democracy, the Democratic Party has set itself to dismantling it," Kennedy added.