Robert F Kennedy Jr suspends presidential campaign, endorses Donald Trump

Donald Trump. Pic/AFP

Independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr suspended his presidential campaign and threw his support behind former President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported.

He announced his plans in a speech in Phoenix, saying he was withdrawing his name from the ballot in battleground states. He accused the Democratic Party of "abandoning democracy" and engaging in "continued legal warfare" against him and Trump.

Kennedy's announcement was pre-empted on Friday by his own legal team, in a filing in a Pennsylvania court case challenging his ballot access in the battleground state.

A lawyer for Kennedy wrote that the campaign was dropping its opposition to the complaint "as a result of today's endorsement of Donald Trump for the office of President of the United States."

Kennedy, 70, the scion of a Democratic political dynasty, ran a campaign that combined populist economic rhetoric, isolationist foreign policy leanings and government skepticism. He found a base of support among Kennedy-curious independent voters and disaffected Democrats and Republicans, according to the NYT.

He began his presidential campaign last year as a Democrat, seeking to challenge President Biden for the nomination. But when he found his path there blocked -- which he blamed on the Democratic Party -- he embarked on an independent campaign that unnerved both major parties, as allies of both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump feared he could siphon support from their candidates.

As Kennedy began to get on state ballots, his poll numbers, once in the double digits, began to soften -- a trend that is often seen among third-party and independent candidates as the general election approaches. By the end of August, polls put him at around 5 per cent nationwide. Additionally, his campaign was running out of money, campaign finance filings showed.

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, has emerged over the past two decades as a prominent opponent of vaccine mandates, promoting widely refuted claims that childhood vaccinations cause autism and railing against what he called the "corporate capture" of the federal government by pharmaceutical companies.

On the campaign trail, Kennedy opposed US aid to Ukraine, and supported Israel's war in Gaza and argued for sealing the southern border. He changed his position on abortion several times, ultimately landing on restrictions tied to foetal viability.

He eagerly claimed the mantle of his family legacy, often talking about his father, Robert F Kennedy, and uncle John F Kennedy, even as his own family members disavowed his candidature, backing President Biden and publicly denouncing his bid, as reported by the New York Times.

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