(NEXSTAR) – After days of speculation, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pulled himself out of the 2024 presidential race on Friday — at least in a few battleground election states.
Speaking to supporters in Phoenix, Kennedy said he would not be terminating his campaign for the presidency, but instead would be suspending it. He said his name will remain on ballots in many states, and encouraged voters in stark blue and stark red states to cast their votes for him.
He said, however, that he would be taking his name off the ballot in “about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler.”
“I’ve already started that process and I urge voters not to vote for me,” Kennedy said.
“In my heart I no longer feel I have a path to electoral victory in the face of this systematic censorship and media control. So I cannot in good conscience ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours or ask my donors to keep giving when I cannot honestly tell them that I have a real path to the White House,” he said. “Furthermore, our polling showed that by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats.”
He cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons to try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states. “These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent and now to throw my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said.
Ahead of his speech in Arizona, Kennedy’s campaign said in a Pennsylvania court filing Friday that he was endorsing Donald Trump for president, but a spokesperson for Kennedy said the court filing had been made in error.
“Mr. Kennedy has not endorsed President Trump,” said spokesperson Stefanie Spear. “The filing was made by an attorney and not reviewed by the campaign.” She said the filing would be updated.
Hours later, Trump is set to hold a rally in neighboring Glendale. Trump’s campaign has teased that he will be joined by “a special guest,” though neither campaign responded to messages about whether Kennedy would be that guest.
The two campaigns have ramped up their compliments to each other and engaged in behind-the-scenes discussions in recent weeks, according to those familiar with the efforts. Both campaigns have spent months accusing Democrats of weaponizing the legal system for their own benefit. And both have hinted publicly that they could be open to joining forces, with the shared goal of limiting the election chances of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Kennedy said Trump’s campaign reached out shortly after the assassination attempt on the former president last month. Subsequent meetings led Kennedy to believe the two were in alignment on several key issues.
“In those meetings he suggested that we join forces as a unity party,” said Kennedy, stating that the arrangement would allow the two to disagree even publicly.
Trump told NewsNation in an interview Thursday it “would be an honor” to receive Kennedy’s endorsement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.