Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ends his White House bid on August 23, 2024.
- RFK said the Democratic Party has abandoned democracy, adding that the “DNC and its media organs engineered a surge of popularity” for Harris “based upon nothing – no policies, no interviews, no debates.”
Less than 24 hours after Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced that he was suspending his White House bid and endorsing Republican nominee former President Donald Trump.
In an address from Phoenix, Arizona, Kennedy said free speech, the war in Ukraine and the war on the nation’s children were key reasons why he was supporting Trump.
Kennedy took issue with the Democratic Party “abandoning democracy” by installing Harris as their nominee without winning one primary election or sitting for an unscripted interview since President Joe Biden stepped away from the race.
“How did the Democratic Party choose a candidate that has never done an interview or a debate during the entire election cycle?” Kennedy asked, adding, “The DNC and its media organs engineered a surge of popularity for Vice President Harris based upon nothing – no policies, no interviews, no debates. Only smoke and mirrors.”
Kennedy went on to say that the Democratic Party is the “party of war, censorship, corruption, big Pharma, big tech, and big money.”
Earlier in the day, reports of Kennedy’s campaign filing to have his name removed from ballots in Arizona and Pennsylvania emerged on social media. Kennedy confirmed that in about 10 battleground states, he would be removing his name so as not to be a spoiler or hurt Trump.
However, Kennedy said his name would remain on ballots in primarily blue and red states, giving voters an option where his being on the ballot would not impact Trump’s chances.
Kennedy’s poll numbers have hovered around 5 percent nationally since late July, according to FiveThirtyEight‘s averages, after reaching double digits earlier this year.
By his own admission, Trump has talked with Kennedy multiple times in recent months. Trump’s campaign is holding a rally in Glendale, Arizona on Friday evening. They have teased that Trump will be joined by “a special guest.”
Rumors of Kennedy exiting the race have swirled for weeks but reached a fever pitch during the Democratic National Convention. Kennedy admitted in his announcement Friday that he sought to discuss his suspending his campaign with Harris but her campaign would not engage in discussions.
In the lead up to Kennedy’s announcement, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon encouraged Kennedy supporters to join the Democratic side in a Washington Post Live event Thursday.
“We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen here, but we are building a party and a campaign that welcomes everyone,” O’Malley Dillon said, according to the Washington Post. “If you are someone that was with RFK before, you have a home here.”
On Friday, the Democratic National Committee downplayed the impact Kennedy’s withdrawal would have in the race between Harris and Trump, saying, “Like RFK Jr., Donald Trump is at a low point and acting out of desperation. Embracing RFK Jr. now – when he has nothing to offer but months of disqualifying revelations – is not a decision a campaign makes when they’re acting from a position of strength.”
The latest RealClearPolling has Harris up nationally by 1.5 percent over Trump with the two essentially tied in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
The DNC memo added that as voters have looked into Kennedy’s record, “his support has dwindled to make him a near-negligible factor.”
“The little support that remains is soft, split across ideologies, and disproportionately among lower propensity voters. With no meaningful base of support and sky-high negatives among Democrats, RFK Jr.’s threat to VP Harris was neutralized,” the memo added.
