Independent candidate’s campaign, seen as a threat by both Harris and Trump, had been dogged by controversies
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the scion of the Democratic Kennedy family whose independent presidential campaign threatened to draw votes from both Republicans and Democrats, has suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump.
Kennedy said he will be removing his name from the ballot in critical swing states, but he will remain on the ballot in other states and some voters could still cast ballots for him.
Kennedy, whose uncle, John F Kennedy, and father, Robert F Kennedy, were both assassinated, announced that he was running against Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in April 2023.
He left that race last October however, warning that under the two-party system the US is “cycling from despair to rage and back to despair”, and ran as an independent.
Kennedy’s campaign was seen as a threat to both Harris and Trump, but in the past few months Kennedy was dogged by controversies. He was accused of assaulting a former babysitter, it emerged that Kennedy believed that part of his brain had been eaten by a worm, and in early August he admitted to having staged a bizarre bicycle hit-and-run incident with a dead bear cub in a New York City park.
As his election bid floundered, Kennedy reportedly made overtures to the Harris campaign in August to discuss dropping out and endorsing her in exchange for a job in her administration, while he was also courted by Trump in July.
