PHOENIX — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for president Friday and endorsed Donald Trump, a late-stage shakeup of the presidential race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy’s supporters.
Kennedy said his internal polls had shown that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, though recent public polls don’t provide a clear indication that he is having an outsize impact on support for either major-party candidate. Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states. Independent presidential candidate Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb) “These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said.
However, he made clear that he wasn’t formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states where they are unlikely to sway the outcome. Kennedy took steps to withdraw his candidacy in at least two states late this week, Arizona and Pennsylvania, but in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, election officials said it’s too late for him to take his name off the ballot even if he wants to do so. Kennedy said his actions followed conversations with Trump over the past few weeks.
He cast their alliance as “a unity party," an arrangement that would "allow us to disagree publicly and privately and seriously.” Hours after Kennedy made his announcement in Phoenix, Trump was to hold a rally in neighboring Glendale. Trump’s campaign teased that he would be joined by “a special guest,” though neither campaign responded to messages about whether Kennedy would be that guest.
A year ago, some would have thought it inconceivable that a member of arguably the most storied family in Democratic politics would work with Trump to keep a Democrat out of the White House. Even in recent months, Kennedy has accused Trump of betraying his followers, while Trump has criticized Kennedy as “the most radical left candidate in the race.” Five of Kennedy’s family members issued a statement on Friday calling his support for Trump “a sad ending to a sad story.
” Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix.
(AP Photo/Darryl Webb) “We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride,” read the statement, which his sister Kerry Kennedy posted on X. “We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.
” Kennedy Jr., the son of the late Attorney General and Sen. Robert Kennedy and the nephew of President John F.
Kennedy, acknowledged his decision had caused tension with his immediate family. He is married to actress Cheryl Hines. “This decision is agonizing for me because of the difficulties it causes my wife and my children and my friends,” Kennedy said.
"But I have the certainty that this is what I’m meant to do. And that certainty gives me internal peace, even in storms.” The Kennedy and Trump campaigns have ramped up their compliments of each other and engaged in behind-the-scenes discussions in recent weeks, according to those familiar with the efforts.
Both campaigns have spent months accusing Democrats of weaponizing the legal system for their own benefit. And both have hinted publicly that they could be open to joining forces, with the shared goal of limiting Harris' chances. Last month, during the Republican National Convention, Kennedy’s son posted and then quickly deleted a video showing a phone call between Kennedy and Trump, in which the former president appeared to try to talk Kennedy into siding with him.
Talks between the two camps continued, with close Trump allies quietly lobbying Kennedy to drop out of the race and support the Republican nominee, according to a person familiar with the efforts who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Trump told CNN on Tuesday that he would “love” an endorsement from Kennedy, whom he called a “brilliant guy.” He also said he would “certainly” be open to Kennedy playing a role in his administration if Kennedy dropped out and endorsed him.
Kennedy's running mate, Nicole Shanahan, also suggested on a podcast this week that his campaign might “walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump.” While she clarified that she is not personally in talks with Trump, she entertained the idea that Kennedy could join Trump's administration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. “I think that Bobby in a role like that would be excellent,” Shanahan said.
“I fully support it. I have high hopes.” Earlier Friday, Shanahan posted on X that she isn’t a Kamala Democrat or a Trump Republican.
“I’m an INDEPENDENT American who is endorsing ideas, not a person or a party,” she wrote. “I will continue working to give a voice to the voiceless and bring power back to the people.” At Kennedy's Phoenix event, 38-year-old Casey Westerman, a Chandler, Arizona, resident who works in software sales, said she trusted Kennedy’s judgment and had planned to vote for him, but would support Trump if Kennedy said that was who he was endorsing.
Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to reporters at the Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola, N.
Y. on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024.
(AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, Pool) “My decision would really be based on who he thinks is best suited to run this country,” said Westerman, who wore a “Kennedy 2024” trucker hat and voted for Trump in the last two presidential elections. Kennedy first entered the 2024 presidential race as a Democrat but left the party last fall to run as an independent. He built an unusually strong base for a third-party bid, fueled in part by anti-establishment voters and vaccine skeptics who have followed his anti-vaccine work since the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he has since faced strained campaign finances and mounting legal challenges. Recent polls put his support in the mid-single digits. And it's unclear if he’d get even that in a general election, since third-party candidates frequently don’t live up to their early poll numbers when voters actually cast their ballots.
There's some evidence that Kennedy's staying in the race would hurt Trump more than Harris. According to a July AP-NORC poll, Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats to have a favorable view of Kennedy. And those with a positive impression of Kennedy were significantly more likely to also have a favorable view of Trump (52%) than Harris (37%).
___ ___ Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Michelle L. Price in Phoenix, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., Meg Kinnard in Chicago and Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.
___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP's democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Robert Kennedy Jr., when asked why he was wearing a "Black is beautiful," button Thursday on April 1, 1982 in New York He points to his fiance Emily Black. Her reaction was even more simple.
She just pointed to herself and smiled. The couple at Trax after friend gave Kennedy a bachelor party in New York earlier in the evening. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. and his wife Emily Black Kennedy, at right with Art Buchwald, center at a reception celebrating the publication of the autobiography of Virginia Durr, "Outside the Magic Circle", at the library of New York University on Feb 19, 1986, at New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) President Bill Clinton chats with Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F.
Kennedy, and her son, Robert Kennedy Jr., before the start of a memorial mass, Sunday, June 6, 1993 at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Thousands joined the Kennedy family to honor RFK on the 25th anniversary of his death.
(AP Photo/Greg Gibson) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fishes with his son Bobby, 8, left, and daughter Kathleen, nicknamed "Kick," on the dock of his 11-acre Mount Kisco estate, Sept.
7, 1993. Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
speaks during a ceremony in Washington Tuesday July 22, 1997 where the Earth Conservation Corps released four three-month eagles. Challenger the Eagle, the only trained free-flying eagle in the U.S.
who entertained during the event is at right. (AP Photo/Ruth Fremson) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
appears with Liz Claiborne at the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards in New York, Thursday, June 15, 2000. Claiborne was honored with the lifetime achievement award. (AP Photo/Mitch Jacobson) Robert F.
Kennedy Jr., president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, addresses the delegates at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, July 28, 2004, in Boston. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) Robert F.
Kennedy Jr., gestures while speaking at Unity College in Unity, Maine, Friday, Sept. 23, 2005.
(AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies in Superior Court in Stamford, Conn.
, Tuesday, April 17, 2007, at a hearing to determine whether his cousin, Michael Skakel, should receive a new trial in the 1975 bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley. Skakel was tried and found guilty of Moxley's death in 2002. (AP Photo/Bob Child) Actor Jim Carrey, left, and Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr. speak on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 4, 2008, during a rally calling for the elimination of toxins from children's vaccines. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. speaks during the Green Sunday At Red Rocks Democratic National Convention welcoming concert in Morrison, Colo. on Sunday, Aug.
24, 2008. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
, left, speaks with former United States President Bill Clinton during a ceremony to mark the official renaming of the Triborough Bridge to the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig) MSG: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Mary arrive during funeral services for U.
S. Senator Edward Kennedy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009. Senator Kennedy died late Tuesday after a battle with cancer.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left, gestures as he speaks during a news conference as he endorses Gov.
Charlie Crist, right, in Crist's independent candidacy for the Senate, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010 at Shelby's Kitchen & Deli in Deerfield Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) Environmental lawyer Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. makes remarks during a rally Monday, May 7, 2012, in Portland, Ore. Columbia Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club, Climate Solutions and Greenpeace sponsored the rally to fight a half-dozen proposals to ship coal from Montana and Wyoming to Asia through Northwest ports.
The opponents warn of local problems from coal dust and long coal trains. They also say expanding Asian access to American coal would be bad for the world environment. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Robert F.
Kennedy Jr., left, and his children turn away after paying their respects at the casket of Mary Richardson Kennedy, in St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville, Mass.
, Saturday, May 19, 2012. Mary Richardson Kennedy was found dead of an apparent suicide last week at her home in Bedford, N.Y.
(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends the premiere of the HBO documentary "Ethel" at the Time Warner Center on Monday Oct.
15, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
is arrested in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, as prominent environmental leaders tied themselves to the White House gate to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt) Activist Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr. and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, attend the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award ceremony, Tuesday, Dec.
16, 2014 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
arrives in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Woody Harrelson, left, star of "LBJ," embraces Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. at the premiere of the film at the ArcLight Hollywood on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017, in Los Angeles.
(Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Cheryl Hines, right, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appear in the audience at the 24th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall on Sunday, Jan.
21, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Invision/AP) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
attends the 2018 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awards at the New York Hilton Midtown on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018, in New York.
(Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP) Attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks after a hearing challenging the constitutionality of the state legislature's repeal of the religious exemption to vaccination on behalf of New York state families who held lawful religious exemptions, during a rally outside the Albany County Courthouse Wednesday, Aug.
14, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink) Attorney Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr., speaks against proposed Democratic bills that would add new doses of vaccines to attend school, during a protest rally on behalf of New York state families against the vaccination of children at the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, in Albany, N.
Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
, son of Robert Kennedy, stages a protest against the COVID-19 vaccination green pass in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. speaks at an event where he announced his run for president on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, in Boston. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds) Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr., arrives to testify before a House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
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