LAST UPDATE | 23 Aug 2024

INDEPENDENT US PRESIDENTIAL candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr has said he is suspending, but not ending, his campaign. 

Citing his concerns about free speech, the war in Ukraine and “the war on our children,” Kennedy announced he would “throw my support to president Trump” at a news conference in Arizona.

His family labelled his endorsement of Trump a “betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear”.

In his speech today, Kennedy said: “I want everyone to know that I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it and not ending it.”

He said that his name will remain on the ballot in “most states” where people can “vote for me without harming or helping president Trump or vice president Harris”. 

However, his name will be removed from ten “battleground states” where Kennedy said his “presence would be a spoiler”.

In these ten states, Kennedy said he has already started the process of removing his name from the ballots and “urge voters not to vote for me”. 

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

Ahead of this planned speech, Kennedy’s campaign team said in court documents that he is endorsing Donald Trump for president.

Kennedy’s independent campaign also requested that he be removed from the Pennsylvania ballot.

However, a spokesperson for Kennedy said the court filing had been made in error and that the filing would be updated.

In a few hours, Trump will hold a rally in neighbouring Glendale.

Trump’s campaign has teased that he will be joined by “a special guest”, though neither campaign responded to messages about whether Kennedy would be that guest.

Kennedy withdrew from the ballot in Arizona yesterday, less than a week after he submitted well more than the required number of signatures to appear on the ballot.

But his critics raised questions about the validity of some of the signatures, and the involvement of a pro-Kennedy super PAC to collect them risked potentially running afoul of rules against coordination between candidates and independent political groups.

A year ago, some would have thought it inconceivable that Kennedy — a member of 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 criticised Kennedy as “the most radical left candidate in the race”.

But the two campaigns have ramped up their compliments to 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 weaponising 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 the election chances of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

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 he drops out and endorses him.

The remarks by Kennedy, a son of former Attorney General Robert F Kennedy and a nephew of former President John F Kennedy, come as his campaign’s momentum has slipped.

He 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, fuelled in part by anti-establishment voters and vaccine sceptics who have followed his anti-vaccine work since the pandemic.

But he has since faced strained campaign finances and mounting legal challenges, including a recent ruling from a New York judge that he should not appear on the ballot in the state because he listed a “sham” address on nominating petitions.

Recent polls put his support in the mid-single digits.

And it is unclear if he would get even that in a general election, since third-party candidates frequently do not live up to their early poll numbers when voters actually cast their ballots.

For Trump, Friday will mark the end of a week’s worth of battleground state visits in which he has sought to draw attention away from Democrats’ celebration of Harris’ presidential nomination in Chicago.

He travelled to Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Arizona’s US-Mexico border for events focused on his policy proposals on the economy, crime and safety, national security and the border.

He will close out the week with stops in Las Vegas and Glendale.