Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will drop out of the presidential race by the end of the week, and is considering endorsing former president Donald Trump, according to multiple reports.
Kennedy will likely announce the decision, which was first reported by ABC News and confirmed by the New York Times, when he addresses the nation on Friday from Arizona, calling it quits as his campaign coffers dwindle. The speech will be “about the present historical moment and his path forward,” Kennedy’s campaign said this week.
After making a splash in the independent media space last year and building a following among well-heeled Silicon Valley donors, Kennedy’s campaign has faltered as election day approaches. The vaccine-skeptical rabble rouser has not held a public event in over a month and his campaign raised just $5.6 million in July while blowing through $7 million, according to the latest FEC filings.
Trump said on Tuesday that he would “certainly” consider giving Kennedy a role in his potential administration, adding that “he’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him for a long time.”
“I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it,” Trump told CNN. Trump’s son, Donald Jr., also said he would “love the idea” of putting Kennedy in the next Republican administration, in “some sort of role in some sort of major three-letter entity or whatever it may be.”
The independent candidate was in talks with Trump following the assassination attempt on the former president, to discuss a potential job overseeing a health portfolio, the Washington Post reported.
“All I will say to you is I am willing to talk to anybody from either political party who wants to talk about children’s health and how to end the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said at the time. “I have a lot of respect for President Trump for reaching out to me. Nobody from the DNC, high or low, has ever reached out to me in 18 months. Instead, they have allocated millions to try to disrupt my campaign.”
Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said on Tuesday that the campaign may drop out of the race and endorse Trump.
“There’s two options that we’re looking at,” Shanahan said in a podcast interview. “One is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Tim] Walz presidency, because we draw votes from Trump or we draw somehow more votes from Trump. Or, we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump. We walk away from that and we explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”
“It’s Bobby’s decision. I came into this supporting him wholeheartedly to win this election. And I have to say, there’s only one party that has obstructed a fair election for us, and unfortunately, it was the Democratic Party,” Shanahan added.
In five-way national polling that includes Harris, Trump, Kennedy and third-party candidates Jill Stein and Cornel West, Kennedy pulls an average 4.5 percent support, according to RealClearPolitics. Harris, meanwhile, leads Trump 46.4 percent to 44.9 percent.