Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a campaign event to announce his candidacy at the Henry J. Kaiser Event Center on March 26, 2024 in Oakland, California Running mate selection.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to drop out of the presidential race on Friday and support Republican nominee Donald Trump, NBC News reported Wednesday, two sources familiar with the independent candidate’s plans said.
Kennedy’s withdrawal from the race would end a long-shot contest that nonetheless threatens to upend the primary party contest between Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
An NBC source said the Kennedy and Trump campaigns are working to organize a joint appearance.
Both Trump and Kennedy plan to hold events in the Phoenix, Arizona, area on Friday. Kennedy’s campaign is billing his event, scheduled for 2 p.m. ET, as a speech “about the current moment in history and his path forward.”
Kennedy, 70, ran an unorthodox campaign, appearing at times to simultaneously propel and bog him down with his contrarian views and controversy on a range of hot-button issues.
While he never reached the level of support enjoyed by the Republican and Democratic nominees, poll The results of the presidential race showed that Kennedy had one of the strongest third-party performances in decades.
On a presidential map where victory hinges on razor-thin margins of wait-and-see voters in a handful of battleground states, Kennedy’s emergence Ballots in 19 states may have a decisive impact.
Kennedy, in turn, drew criticism from both parties, who accused him of essentially Run a spoiler campaign This takes votes away from their preferred candidates.
For their part, Kennedy campaign officials have repeatedly said they were closer to Trump’s actions than to Harris’s.
Kennedy’s running mate Nicole Shanahan said in an interview published Tuesday that the campaign is considering whether to continue the campaign or “join forces with Donald Trump.”
Shanahan explained that the problem with continuing third-party campaigns is that they “risk a Kamala Harris and (Tim) Walz presidency because we…somehow got that from Trump.” More votes.
Video leaked in April showed a Kennedy campaign staffer calling then-presumptive Democratic nominee President Joe Biden a “common enemy.” Trump and Kennedy voters.
Suspicion of the Kennedy campaign’s campaign against Democratic votes grew significantly in July, when another leaked video showed Trump telling Kennedy, “I want you to do something. I think it’s going to be very good for you, for you to come.” Say it’s very important.
The Washington Post subsequently reported Kennedy has held talks with Trump about potentially supporting the Republican campaign and joining his administration if he wins.
Trump also said in the video that he agreed with Kennedy, who had spread the Debunking anti-vaccine claims For years, there have been questions about childhood vaccinations.
Critics often blame Kennedy and Shanahan’s ex-wives Google Co-founder Sergey Brin traffics in dangerous conspiracy theories, especially about vaccines.
The vast majority of medical institutions stated that Children’s vaccines are safe. 2024 WHO study finds immunization efforts have saved More than 100 million baby lives over the past half century.
Kennedy, who ran as an independent after dropping out of the Democratic primary at the end of 2023, is campaigning on an alternative to mainstream political binaries.
He relied heavily on his resume as an environmental lawyer and activist to portray himself as a killer of corporate giants and a voice for disillusioned voters across the political spectrum.
His political status may have been enhanced by his surname. RFK Jr. was a scion of the Kennedy political dynasty, the son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated .
There is also a steady stream of interest in Kennedy’s wild personal life, which often brings him back into the spotlight.
In a recent interview with controversial comedian Roseanne Barr, Kennedy recounted how he once planted a seed. dead bear in Central Park—acquired on a falconry expedition north of New York City—and arranged it to look like it had been hit by a cyclist.
that story, consistent with report From 10 years ago, a few weeks later Kennedy reportedly apologized A woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in the late 1990s.
That same month, Kennedy provoked a backlash because he tweetedwithout prompting, “As president, I will not take sides on 9/11 or any other debate.”
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