Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced he is suspending his campaign as a third-party candidate and will endorse Donald Trump, thereby boosting the former president’s chances against Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Curtain Falls on RFK Campaign
Robert Kennedy Jr., son of the late US Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, has decided to suspend his campaign and throw his support to Donald Trump. His momentum began to wane when President Biden withdrew from the race, making way for Vice-President Harris to serve as the Democrat nominee.
“In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path to electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control,” he said during Friday’s press conference. “So, I cannot in good conscience ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours, or ask my donor to keep giving when I cannot honestly, tell them, that I have a real path to the White House.”
Only hours after the announcement, Kennedy shared a stage with Donald Trump while supporters chanted, “Bobby!” Reports are that Kennedy was seeking a promise from each candidate about a position in either administration. It appears Trump was more eager than Harris, as Kennedy intimated he had had conversations with the former president about working with him in some capacity in his administration but was not specific.
Kennedy Family’s Response
Kennedy hails from a family of revered, legacy Democrats, therefore, it was not surprising that his sister posted a statement on X on behalf of her and several other members of the Kennedy clan, which read as follows:
I am sharing a personal statement that my family and I have made in response to my brother’s announcement. pic.twitter.com/j7vTTabNYZ
— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) August 23, 2024
Good News for Trump
Robert Kennedy Jr. is a free spirit and has widely divergent views that run the gamut from left-leaning policies to conservative-friendly ideals. Although Kennedy Jr.’s support was waning, this is expected to be a tight race where critical battleground states could decide the election. Any additional support could do precisely that and Trump will take a boost regardless of how it manifests.
Since Harris vaulted to the top of the ticket, Trump’s lead at the politics betting sites has dramatically eroded from the -250 odds to +125 before RFK announced his support for DJT. However, a recent glance at the presidential odds shows the race is a coin flip at -110 apiece. There is little doubt this third-party support will help Trump but not everyone agrees.
Democratic National Committee adviser, Ramsay Reid, said in a memo, “Here’s what RFK Jr.’s endorsement of Donald Trump would change: nothing. The little support that remains is soft, split across ideologies, and disproportionately among lower propensity voters.”
Yet, the Harris campaign was all too willing to court RFK voters who may feel disenfranchised.
“If they were looking for somebody who’s actually going to fight for their interests, their values, or they’re looking for somebody who understood as it relates to the personal decisions that they make in their lives, the government should get the hell out of the way,” Harris spokesman Michael Tyler said, “then there’s a home for them in Kamala Harris campaign.”
