ROBERT F. Kennedy Jr. suspending his campaign could ultimately benefit Donald Trump in the race against Kamala Harris, a political expert has told The U.S. Sun.
Kennedy Jr. announced his campaign suspension during a campaign rally in Phoenix on Friday but emphasized that he was not ending his presidential fight and that his name would still appear on the ballots in some states in November.
In his speech, Kennedy Jr. blasted Democrats, saying the party had diverged far from the “core values” he grew up watching when his uncle, John F. Kennedy, and father, Robert F. Kennedy, were leading the charge.
“I attended my first Democratic Convention when I was six in 1960,” Kennedy Jr. said.
“Back then, the Democrats were the champions of the constitution, of civil rights. The Democrats stood against authoritarianism, against censorship, against colonialism, imperialism, and unjust wars.
“We were the party of labor, of the working class. The Democrats were the party of government transparency.
“As you know, I left that party in October because it had departed so dramatically from the core values that I grew up with.”
Kennedy Jr. claimed Democrats engaged in a “continued legal warfare” to prevent him from gaining access to the ballots in all 50 states.
He carried the state in 2016 but lost it to Joe Biden in 2020.
Average polls suggest Trump is leading in the state by just 0.2 percentage points.
Biden only carried the state by 0.3 percentage points four years ago.
Kennedy remains on the ballot in both Michigan and North Carolina.
And his campaign claimed that he had enough signatures to be on ballots in dozens of states.
Last week, a New York judge disqualified Kennedy Jr. from appearing on the state’s election ballot.
He launched an appeal against the verdict.
A motion has since been launched to try and get Kennedy Jr. off the ballot in Georgia.
Georgia is another one of the crucial battleground states that the Democrats are defending in the presidential election.
The polls suggest that Trump is on track to take the Sunbelt state in November.
CAMPAIGN SUSPENSION
On Friday, Kennedy Jr. was speaking in front of a crowd of supporters in Phoenix for over an hour when he announced his campaign suspension.
“I want everyone to know that I am not terminating my campaign, I am simply suspending it,” Kennedy Jr. said at the rally.
“My name will remain on the ballot in most states.”
Kennedy Jr. told the crowd he encouraged his supporters to still vote for him in most states, saying their vote would not harm or help either Harris or Trump, no matter whether they live in a red or blue state.
“If enough of you do vote for me, and neither of the major party candidates wins 270 [electoral] votes, which is quite possible,” Kennedy Jr. said alluding to a possible route to victory.
“In fact, today our polling shows them tying at 269 to 269,” he said to the crowd.
“And I could still conceivably still end up in the White House in a contingent election,” he said, receiving a singular “Woohoo!” from the crowd and a small applause.
However, in about 10 battleground states where his name would impact the vote, Kennedy Jr. said he would be removing his name from those ballots and urged people living there not to vote for him.
“In about 10 battleground states, where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name,” he told the crowd.
“I’ve already started that process.”
