RFK Jr. suspends 2024 campaign, endorses Trump

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his presidential campaign on Friday, throwing his support behind former President Donald Trump in a bid to shake up an already chaotic 2024 race.

In recent days, Kennedy’s campaign has shown signs of weakness. Its latest financial report showed it was burning through cash without raising enough to keep up. His running mate, attorney Nicole Shanahan, also suggested she didn’t want to continue funding the bulk of his campaign as a third party, only to end up playing spoiler.

Kennedy, a member of the Democratic Party’s most famous family, had been critical of Trump in the past but has since adopted policy positions that mirror those of the Republican nominee, including encouraging vaccine skepticism.

Trump has also been much more receptive to Kennedy’s overtures than Vice President Kamala Harris, who, according to the Washington Post, did not respond through her advisers to Kennedy’s request for a meeting. Meanwhile, the newspaper reported that Trump and Kennedy met in person.

Kennedy appeared to have a role to play in the 2024 election when it appeared President Joe Biden and Trump were destined for a rematch. Early polls showed Kennedy approaching double-digit support in the face of a likely Trump-Biden rematch that Americans did not want.

But like Trump, Kennedy had his share of misfires over the summer. It didn’t help that his campaign was marred by bizarre stories, including his belated confirmation that he had dumped a bear carcass in Central Park years ago.

The son of one of the most illustrious Democratic Party dynasties in modern U.S. history, Kennedy, who rose to fame as an environmental lawyer, is best known for his anti-vaccine advocacy. In April 2023, he announced that he would run Biden as his primary candidate.

But Kennedy struggled to find traction against a sitting president who was then expected to mount a rematch with Trump. In October, Kennedy announced he would now run as an independent candidate.

Without the support of a major party, Kennedy had to raise huge sums to build his campaign and qualify for election in every state. He chose Shanahan, a Silicon Valley philanthropist and lawyer, as his running mate. She would later joke that her main qualification was her immense wealth.

Early polls showed Kennedy nearing double-digit support in a likely Trump-Biden rematch that Americans didn’t want. Banking heir Timothy Mellon, a staunch Trump supporter, has funded a pro-Kennedy super PAC, raising concerns that Kennedy could derail Biden’s chances. But polls also showed Kennedy could dent Trump’s base, leading the former president to step up his criticism of him.

Kennedy cloaked his candidacy behind images of his famous family, leading many close to him to publicly criticize him. Some Kennedys also pretended to support Biden before the president withdrew from the 2024 race.

Throughout his campaign, Kennedy was mired in myriad controversies, from spreading a baseless COVID-related theory that the virus was “ethnically targeted” to his vow not to “take sides” on conspiracies surrounding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.