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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is expected to suspend his campaign on Friday in Phoenix where he plans to “address the nation.”
ABC News first reported that Kennedy plans to drop out. A person familiar with the situation confirmed to Semafor that he plans to suspend his campaign on Friday.
The expected suspension — and potential endorsement of Trump — is in part the result of a quiet, months-long effort from Don Jr., donor Omeed Malik, and Tucker Carlson to coax him over to Trump’s corner. The three have worked to facilitate conversations with the former president and Kennedy in recent months.
“I haven’t spoken to RFK personally, but I know there’s been a lot of communication back and forth between RFK, between the campaign, between this campaign,” Trump’s running mate JD Vance, who also has a close relationship with the trio responsible for Kennedy’s likely endorsement, told NBC News on Wednesday.
Rumors that Kennedy could leave the race have gained steam this week ever since the independent candidate’s running mate Nicole Shanahan suggested he might do it to help Donald Trump.
In an interview with podcaster Tom Bilyeu, posted Tuesday morning, Shanahan said that the changing race gave her and Kennedy two options. They could run through November, and “run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Tim] Walz presidency” — or, they could drop out and “join forces with” Trump to consolidate their vote.
Shanahan doubled down on the remarks during an interview with Fox News today, attacking the Democratic Party for obstructing their efforts at ballot access and saying she would “fully support” Kennedy taking a role in a second Trump administration. Hours later, the Kennedy campaign scheduled a Friday afternoon speech in Phoenix “about the present historical moment and his path forward.”
Trump is notably scheduled to host an event in Phoenix the same day, though it’s not yet clear if they will join each other.
The former president’s allies celebrated Shanahan’s comments and the sudden speech announcement.
“It definitely doesn’t hurt,” one campaign advisor said of a potential endorsement.
The Kennedy campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his upcoming plans.
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Democrats and the Trump campaign had both kept an eye on Kennedy as a potential spoiler after he abandoned his campaign for the Democratic nomination and re-launched as an independent.
In October, internal Trump polling showed that Kennedy could take more votes from Trump than Joe Biden. That was Trump’s cue to remind voters “of his very liberal views,” one Trumpworld source told Semafor at the time. By May, Trump was personally posting that Kennedy was a “Democrat ‘Plant’” and “Radical Left Liberal.”
Those fears among Republicans faded as Biden struggled in polls. They reappeared this month, after Harris replaced Biden as the nominee and consolidated Democratic-leaning voters who had been considering Kennedy — a trend that showed up instantly in polling and focus groups.
Trump’s tone also shifted in that time. In a video leaked by one of Kennedy’s children, one week before Biden quit the race, Trump talked sympathetically about Kennedy’s skepticism about childhood vaccines, and said cryptically that he “would love you to do something.”
This week, Trump openly said he’d entertain giving Kennedy a position. “He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him for a very long time,” Trump told CNN. “I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it.”
David’s and Shelby’s View
How would this move the needle in the presidential race? Trump and his allies would love to take Kennedy off the board, confident that most of his remaining voters won’t support Harris. If that happened, it could make a difference in a race that’s effectively tied as of now.
Kennedy, part of the Democratic Party’s most storied dynasty, had laid out countless reasons why he couldn’t support Trump. Could a life-long environmental lawyer support a candidate who wanted to dismantle environmental regulation? Could he spend a year attacking the “establishment” and asking people to declare “independence,” then tell them to get behind a former Republican president?
The candidate would have credibility issues right away. As he tumbled to low single digits in polling this month, he shopped around a potential endorsement to both Trump and Kamala Harris’ campaign in an effort to snag himself a position in an upcoming administration.
Democrats offered him nothing. They viewed the candidate with contempt, and operated an anti-Kennedy DNC team and a super PAC designed to drive his numbers down and block him from state ballots. While Republicans believe that anti-establishment, non-white voters who now support Kennedy could move to Trump, Democrats already saw him as a stalking horse for GOP donors to drag down their party. A Republican super PAC sent mail to swing state Democrats, insisting that Kennedy was a pro-choice progressive, for example.
Notable
- As Semafor reported, RFK Jr. also briefly shopped himself back around to Democrats as a Biden replacement in July. “I’m the only presidential candidate who can beat Donald Trump,” he told reporters.
- It’s been quite the month for Kennedy, who admitted to picking up a dead bear on the side of the road in 2014, driving it into Manhattan, then deciding to abandon it in Central Park while trying to make it look like it died in a bike accident.