Today, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced his withdrawal from the presidential race.
“I am not terminating my campaign, I am simply suspending it, not ending it,” says Kennedy. “My name will remain on the ballot in most states.”
Kennedy noted that he could still win the election in a contingent election, but that he would remove his name from the ballot in the ten states where his candidacy could act as a spoiler. “If you live in a blue state you can vote for me,” he said. “I encourage you to vote for me.”
Kennedy also used his speech to accuse the Democratic National Committee (DNC) of waging legal warfare against himself and former president Donald Trump, comparing Biden and the organization to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. He took aim at Harris for not doing unscripted interviews with the press, while he and Trump have.
“Are we still a role model for democracy in this country, or have we made it kind of a joke?” he asked. Kennedy noted that he was compelled to leave the race when it became clear that he would “hand the election to the Democratic party.”
Kennedy spoke in glowing terms about Trump, and confirmed that, after the assassination attempt on Trump he met with the former president, and said they had many policy goals in common.
Indications that Kennedy and Trump were inching toward a political alliance has been building for months. In July, Kennedy traveled to the Republican National Convention, where a video of Trump and Kennedy appearing to discuss a possible endorsement surfaced. Trump campaign donor Timothy Mellon also supported the Kennedy campaign with $25 million. Earlier this week, Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, suggested in a podcast appearance that he might drop out and endorse the former president.
In a Thursday post on X, Shanahan said that Democrats are “terrified of the idea of our movement joining forces with Donald Trump.”
“MAGA Republicans elevated RFK Jr.’s sham candidacy as a tool to mislead voters and hurt Democrats, and RFK Jr.’s exit is an admission their gambit failed,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) spokesperson Ramsey Reid said in a statement.
The Kennedy campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy launched his campaign as a Democrat in April 2023 and then as an independent in October 2023, and appeared to be a potential spoiler candidate who could meaningfully impact the results of the election. Throughout his campaign, Kennedy appeared to have mastered the art of taking up whatever digital space was offered to him. He appeared on podcasts and in TikTok Lives, and courted crypto donors. When he was not offered a place on the debate stage alongside Trump and President Joe Biden, Kennedy hosted a parallel debate, streamed online and on X, viewed by over 9 million people.
A scion of the famous Kennedy family, Kennedy rose to prominence as an environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist. In 2014, Kennedy joined the board of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), a nonprofit that falsely asserts that conditions like ADHD, autism, and cancer are caused by exposure to radiation and harmful chemicals, and in particular focuses on disproved claims about the links between vaccination and conditions like autism.
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