Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suspended his campaign for the US presidential election. The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy now wants to support Republican candidate Trump.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. no longer wants to run for the office of US President for the time being. The politician, who ran as an independent candidate, now wants to support the candidacy of former President Donald Trump.
In an appearance in Phoenix, Arizona, the 70-year-old said his name would be removed from the ballot in so-called swing states. “I no longer believe that I have a realistic chance of winning the election,” he said at a press conference. He would remove his name from the ballot in about ten states where his “presence would be disruptive,” Kennedy explained. His decision was preceded by discussions with former Republican President Trump, Kennedy explained.
Kennedy does not give up candidacy
The move will help the Republican presidential candidate Trump in particular. US media had previously reported that Kennedy was planning to support the 78-year-old in the election campaign. In his long speech, the independent explicitly emphasized that he was not withdrawing completely from the election campaign and that he was not officially giving up his candidacy. In the other states, people could continue to vote for him without this harming Trump or the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
In the latest national polls by the political website “The Hill” this week, Kennedy was at 8.7 percent.
Campaign team removes Kennedy’s name from ballots
Kennedy’s campaign team had previously asked a court in the state of Pennsylvania to have his name removed from the ballot. Various US media had reported on this.
Already on Thursday, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, and son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was also killed five years later, had requested that his name be removed from the ballot in the state of Arizona.
Former President Trump’s team had previously announced that Trump would be expecting “a special guest” at a rally in Glendale, Arizona. Neither his campaign nor Trump’s campaign would reveal whether this would be Kennedy.
