RFK Jr. suspends 2024 presidential campaign and endorses Trump. Here's a timeline of his run for president.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy suspended his campaign on Friday and threw his support behind Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“In my heart, I no longer believe I have a realistic path to an electoral victory,” he told supporters and press at an event in Arizona. “I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it.”
Kennedy accused the Democratic Party of "abandoning democracy" and claimed that if it had been "an honest system," he would've won the election.
Kennedy's name will remain on the ballot in Democratic-leaning states and he will withdraw his name from battleground states, to not divert votes from Trump and inadvertently give Vice President Kamala Harris a greater chance at winning.
“Many months ago, I promised the American people that I would withdraw from the race if I became a spoiler,” he said. A "spoiler" is a third-party candidate who draws votes away from candidates from one of the two major parties, thereby spoiling their chances of winning.
Trump, who will also be in Arizona today, told CNN on Tuesday that he would consider giving Kennedy a position in his administration if he's elected.
Here is a timeline of Kennedy's presidential campaign so far.
• April 5, 2023: Kennedy files his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
• April 19, 2023: Kennedy announces his campaign to the public at Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. In his speech, he referenced his long-held belief that drugs and vaccines are “poison[ing] our children and our people with chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs.”
• June 15, 2023: In an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Kennedy said he thought the CIA might “kill him” and repeated popular conspiracy theories regarding his uncle John F. Kennedy and his father Robert F. Kennedy’s assassinations. He also claimed Wi-Fi causes cancer and “leaky brain.”
• July 15, 2023: The New York Post publishes an article about how Kennedy made racist and conspiratorial comments about COVID to guests at a dinner party.
• Aug. 13, 2023: At the Iowa State Fair, Kennedy said he would support a national ban on abortions after the third month of pregnancy. A campaign spokesperson later claimed Kennedy “misunderstood” the question.
• Sept. 23, 2023: Reports circulate that Kennedy will no longer run for president as a Democrat, but as an independent.
• Oct. 9, 2023: Kennedy announces he will run as an independent. His campaign manager, Dennis Kucinich, steps down and Kennedy’s daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, takes over.
• Dec. 22, 2023: The American Values PAC announces it will be focusing its efforts on securing Kennedy a spot on ballots in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York and Texas.
• Jan. 2, 2024: Del Bigtree, a well-known anti-vaccine activist, is announced as Kennedy’s communications director.
• Jan. 3, 2024: Utah becomes the first state to grant Kennedy ballot access.
• Jan. 23, 2024: Kennedy says he has enough signatures to appear on the balot in New Hampshire
• Jan. 29, 2024: Kennedy claims the Trump campaign contacted Kennedy about serving as his vice president. “I would not take that job,” Kennedy told NewsNation. “I’m flattered that President Trump would offer it to me, but it’s not something that I’m interested in.”
• Feb. 11, 2024: During the Super Bowl, the American Values PAC runs a 30-second ad in support of Kennedy — the only campaign ad that aired nationally during the game. It reportedly cost $7 million and was a shot-by-shot recreation of a John F. Kennedy campaign ad from 1960.
• March 12, 2024: The Kennedy campaign shares its shortlist for Kennedy’s running mate, which includes former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Republican Sen. Rand Paul, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, former Democratic presidential candidate and New York City mayor candidate Andrew Yang and professional football player Aaron Rodgers.
• March 26, 2024: Kennedy announces philanthropist and attorney Nicole Shanahan as his running mate.
• April 1, 2024: In an interview with CNN, Kennedy claims Biden is a greater threat to democracy than Trump.
• April 18, 2024: Kennedy secures ballot access in Michigan.
• May 8, 2024: The New York Times reports that in a 2012 deposition, Kennedy said doctors found a dead worm in his brain. Kennedy responds to the article in a post on X writing, “I offer to eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate.”
• June 10, 2024: The Kennedy campaign claims they got access to enough state ballots to exceed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. The campaign also claimed Kennedy therefore should qualify for CNN’s presidential debate on June 27. CNN did not verify this was the case.
• June 11, 2024: New York voters, backed by the Democratic National Committee, sue to keep Kennedy off of the state’s ballot. Clear Choice Action, another Democrat group, also claimed that Kennedy had lied about his New York residence on campaign filings.
• June 27, 2024: Kennedy is not invited to CNN’s presidential debate with Biden and Trump. Instead, Kennedy hosts a rival event in Los Angeles and attempts to respond in real time to the same questions Biden and Trump were getting.
• July 2, 2024: Vanity Fair publishes a history of the Kennedy family with a focus on past allegations against Kennedy, including an allegation that he sexually assaulted a family babysitter. There is also a photo of Kennedy posing with a cooked animal carcass, thought by many to be a dog. Kennedy claimed it was actually a goat.
• July 16, 2024: Kennedy apologizes after his son leaks a private phone call between Kennedy and Trump. In the call, Trump appears to try to coax Kennedy to join his ticket.
• Aug. 4, 2024: In an apparent attempt to get ahead of a New Yorker story, Kennedy shares a video on X where he tells comedian Roseanne Barr about the time in 2014 when he discovered a dead bear off the side of the road, put it in his car and then left it in Central Park as a joke.
• Aug. 7, 2024: In an interview with the New York Post, Kennedy shares more about his interest in roadkill. “I’ve been picking up roadkill my whole life,” he said. “I have a freezer full of it.”
• Aug. 12, 2024: Judge Christina Ryba rules that Kennedy's name should be removed from the New York ballot, claiming Kennedy misrepresented his residency as New York when it should’ve been California. The Kennedy campaign said they would file an appeal.
• Aug. 20, 2024: Kennedy running mate Nicole Shanahan hints that she and Kennedy might drop out of the presidential race. “We run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency as we draw votes from Trump,” she said in an interview. Kennedy posts on X: “I am willing to talk with leaders of any political party to further the goals I have served for 40 years in my career and in this campaign.”
• Aug. 21, 2024: The Kennedy campaign announces Kennedy will hold a press conference about the campaign’s “path forward” on Aug. 23 in Phoenix.
• Aug. 22, 2024: Kennedy withdraws from the Arizona ballot.
• Aug. 23, 2024: Kennedy announces during a press conference that he will be suspending his campaign. His name will remain on ballots in Democratic states, but he will be withdrawing from battleground states in order to not take voters away from Trump.
