Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a court filing on Friday that he supports former President Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press.
According to the Associated Press, Kennedy’s campaign asked Pennsylvania to remove him from the ballot in court filings, though the filings did not specify whether he would cease campaigning.
Kennedy, a former Democrat, made the announcement in Phoenix just hours before Trump was scheduled to campaign near Glendale, Ariz. The Trump campaign touted on Thursday that the former president would be joined by a “special guest,” further fueling speculation that Kennedy would endorse the Republican 2024 presidential nominee.
The announcement is expected to mark the end of a presidential bid for the scion of one of America’s most storied political families, a longtime environmental activist and known vaccine skeptic.
Does Kennedy’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race give Trump an advantage over Harris?
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his independent run for the White House during a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 9, 2023. (Photo by Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)
Kennedy launched an unlikely campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination last April, but the 70-year-old candidate switched to an independent bid for the White House in October.
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Kennedy long identified as a Democrat and frequently invoked his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, who were assassinated in the 1960s, but in recent years he has cultivated ties to far-right leaders.
For months, Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee have repeatedly accused Kennedy of being a potential obstructionist who could hand Trump victory in November’s election.
And as Kennedy worked to get his name on the ballot in all 50 states, the Democratic National Committee fought him and his supporters nearly every step of the way.
Kennedy Jr.’s running mate accuses Democrats of “obstructing a fair election” and “fully supports” working with Trump
But Kennedy continued to be a thorn in Biden’s side throughout the past year, until last month, when Biden announced he was ending his reelection bid and endorsing Harris.
The Trump campaign, which supported Kennedy when he was running against Biden as a Democrat, began attacking him after he switched to being an independent, calling him a “far-left” and criticizing his environmental activism.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, DC on May 24, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
However, relations between Kennedy and Trump began to improve earlier this year, and after the assassination attempt on Trump last month, the two men spoke and met in person the following day.
Earlier this week, Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, caused controversy when she said in a podcast interview that she was considering whether to “work with” the Trump campaign to thwart a potential win for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
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“If he endorses me, I’d be honored. I’d be very honored. He’s really a man in his right mind,” Trump said in an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday.
And Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Kennedy’s running mate, said in an interview on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday that he hopes Kennedy “will support the president and be on the team, because this is about saving the country.”
Kennedy’s withdrawal from the race came at a time when his campaign was failing.
His campaign’s last public event was on July 9 in Freeport, Maine, but even before then, the former teenager’s approval ratings had been slipping.
The latest Fox News national poll, conducted Aug. 9-12, put Kennedy’s approval rating at 6 percent.
His fundraising has also plummeted, with campaign finance reports showing he had just $3.9 million in cash on hand and nearly $3.5 million in liabilities as of early July.
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