Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suspended his presidential campaign and will pull his name from the ballots in 10 battleground states.
Kennedy said he’s joining the campaign and potential second administration of Trump, with whom he said he hopes to work on a number of issues that have been central to RFK Jr.’s public life.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suspended his independent pursuit of the U.S. presidency and encouraged his supporters to instead back former President Donald Trump in battleground states, putting the weight of the Kennedy name behind the GOP candidate.
Though Kennedy’s family has a deep legacy as Democratic royalty, the son of 1960s politician icon Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy said he’s pulling his name from ballots in 10 “battleground” states so his campaign doesn’t jeopardize the chances for Trump.
“I no longer believe that I have a realistic path to electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control,” RFK Jr. said Friday at a press event in Arizona. “Our polling consistently showed by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats with whom I disagree on existential issues.”
In a Trump win, Kennedy said he’d join the administration of the former president, who benefited from a 2% bump in Polymarket election betting as RFK Jr. spoke, climbing to a 51% chance of a win against Harris’ 48%.
Already higher for the session after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell Friday morning indicated interest rates are headed lower in September, bitcoin (BTC) rose further, trading at $63,700 at press time, up 5% over the past 24 hours.
While RFK Jr. bears the outsized Kennedy name, he hadn’t been embraced as the standard bearer by others in the Kennedy clan, many of whom endorsed President Joe Biden in April, before Biden handed the Democratic nomination baton to Vice President Kamala Harris. RFK’s candidacy had widely been seen as more damaging to Trump than Harris, though it’s unclear how many supporters he’ll bring to bear for the Republican nominee.
And from a crypto-sector perspective, RFK doesn’t have to sell Trump on joining his embrace of the industry, because the former president is way ahead on that.
Even as Kennedy is putting his weight behind Trump, the former president this week shifted his attention from the campaign to promote a new family business in crypto: a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform they’re calling “The Defiant Ones,” though further details remain scant. While Trump had long been a crypto skeptic, he began making millions on the release of branded non-fungible tokens (NFTs) after he lost the White House and has more recently come out as a digital assets booster.
Kennedy’s new absence on the ballot in Arizona and elsewhere generally turns the November election into a straight-up choice between the two major parties’ candidates, though he said he’ll remain on the ballot outside the battleground and still hopes to get votes. So far, national polling suggests Harris may be retaining a slight edge over Trump, though the advantage is slim.
Meanwhile, Harris’s views on crypto remain unknown. Her campaign hasn’t revealed any major policy positions, though an aide this week said Harris will “support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and that sort of industry can continue to grow,” and he acknowledged the industry has been asking for rules of the road.
Kennedy said throwing his support to Trump was a “heart-wrenching” decision based on their alignment on several issues, including the war in Ukraine, child health issues and constraints on free speech. RFK Jr. will now join Trump’s campaign.
“I have the certainty that this is what I’m meant to do, and that certainty gives me internal peace,” he said.