PHOENIX (AP) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr He suspended his independent campaign for president on Friday and endorsed it Donald TrumpA late-stage shakeup in the presidential race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy’s supporters.
Kennedy’s internal polls show him hurting Trump and helping Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, though recent public polls don’t clearly show he has a big impact on support for the major party nominee.
Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and the “war on our children.”
“These are the main reasons that motivated me to leave the Democratic Party to run as an independent and now to give my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said.
However, he made it clear that he had not formally ended his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in most states where he was unlikely to sway the outcome. Kennedy moved to withdraw his candidacy this weekend in Arizona and Pennsylvania, but in the battleground states of Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, election officials said it was too late to remove his name from the ballot even if he wanted to. To do so.
Kennedy said his actions followed conversations with Trump over the past few weeks. He described their coalition as “a united party”, an arrangement that “allows us to disagree publicly and privately and vigorously”. Kennedy suggested he would offer Trump a job if he returned to the White House, but neither he nor Trump provided specifics.
The announcement ended days of speculation and was met with much confusion and discord from Kennedy’s aides and associates.
Shortly before his speech in Phoenix, his campaign said in a filing Friday in a Pennsylvania court that it would support Trump for president. However, Kennedy’s spokeswoman said the court filing was made in error and the lawyer who wrote it was correcting it. Kennedy took the stage moments later, airing his grievances with the Democratic Party, the news media and the political establishment, and praising Trump. He spoke for nearly 20 minutes and made it clear that he supported Trump.
Trump, campaigning in Las Vegas, said it was a “huge honor” to have Kennedy’s endorsement and brushed aside the question of what positions were being considered for him.
“He’s an honorable man,” Trump said. “Not everyone agrees with what he says, but it’s true for everyone.”
Hours after Kennedy spoke in Phoenix, Trump was scheduled to hold a rally in neighboring Glendale. While neither campaign said whether Kennedy would be the guest, Trump’s campaign teased that he would be accompanied by “a special guest.”
A year ago, few would have thought it unthinkable that someone from one of the most storied families in Democratic politics would work with Trump to keep a Democrat out of the White House. Even in recent months, Kennedy accused Trump of betraying his followers, while Trump criticized Kennedy as “the most radical leftist candidate in the race.”
Five members of Kennedy’s family issued a statement Friday calling his support for Trump “a sad end to a sad story” and reiterating their support for Harris.
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“Our brother Bobby’s decision to support Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold so dear,” his sister Kerry Kennedy read the statement. Published in X.
Late Attorney General and Sen. Robert Kennedy’s son and President John F. Kennedy Jr., Kennedy’s son-in-law, acknowledged his decision to support Trump caused tension with his immediate family. He’s married to actor Cheryl Hynes, who wrote in X that she deeply respects her husband’s decision to quit his job, but won’t talk about the Trump endorsement.
“I am saddened by this decision because of the difficulties it will cause for my wife and my children and my friends,” Kennedy said. “But this is what I am determined to do. That determination gives me inner peace even in storms.
In a statement, Harris campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon reached out to Kennedy supporters who are “tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new outlet.”
“We need a leader to deliver for the working people and the underprivileged, who will fight not just for them but for you, unite us, not divide us,” he said. “Vice President Harris wants your support.”
The Kennedy and Trump campaigns have increased their praise of each other in recent weeks. Both campaigns have spent months accusing Democrats of weaponizing the legal system for their own benefit. Both have hinted publicly that they could be willing to team up, with a shared goal of limiting Harris’ opportunities.
Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, floated the idea this week that Kennedy could join Trump’s administration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“I think Bobby would play a role like that,” Shanahan said in a podcast interview. “I fully support that.”
Before Kennedy’s Phoenix event, Casey Westerman, 38, said he trusted Kennedy’s judgment and planned to vote for him, but would support Trump if Kennedy said he would.
“My decision is based on who he thinks is best suited to run this country,” said Westerman, wearing a “Kennedy 2024” trucker hat who 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 has built an unusually strong base for a third-party effort, fueled in part by anti-establishment voters and vaccine skeptics who have followed his anti-vaccine work since the Covid-19 pandemic. But he faced campaign finance and mounting legal challenges.
At Trump’s event in Las Vegas, Alida Roberts, 49, said Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump spoke volumes for the current state of the Democratic Party.
“It says he doesn’t believe what’s going on, it’s not the party he grew up with,” Roberts said.
Roberts, who voted for Trump twice, said she was relieved and excited by the endorsement. He said he was “tossing and turning” between the two candidates, but knew Kennedy’s campaign faced headwinds too strong to overcome.
Latest polls Kennedy’s approval rating is in the mid-single digits, and it’s unclear whether he’ll pick it up in the general election.
There is some evidence that Kennedy staying in the race will hurt Trump more than Harris. According to a July AP-NORC poll, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to have a favorable view of Kennedy. Those who have a positive opinion of Kennedy are more likely to have a favorable view of Trump (52%) than Harris (37%).
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Michael L. Price, Rio Yamad in Las Vegas, Mark Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., Meg Kinnard in Chicago and Lynley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.
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