OLYMPIA — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain on the ballot in Washington even though he announced he was suspending his independent candidacy for president Friday.
Kennedy endorsed Donald Trump and joined the former president at a rally in Arizona late Friday.
The Washington Secretary of State’s office confirmed Kennedy and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, were certified as candidates in the November general election. The state’s deadline to certify candidates was Friday.
Kennedy and Shanahan are nominees of the We The People party, and the party “maintained and confirmed their intent to remain on the ballot in Washington,” a spokesperson for the office said.
Kennedy said internal polls showed his candidacy would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, though recent public polls don’t provide a clear indication that he is having an outsize impact on support for either major-party candidate, according to The Associated Press.
He also cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states. But Kennedy isn’t formally ending his bid and said Friday his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states where they are unlikely to sway the outcome.
He took steps to withdraw his candidacy in at least two states late this week — Arizona and Pennsylvania — but in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, election officials said it’s too late to remove his name from the ballot even if he wants to do so.
A year ago, some would have thought it inconceivable that a member of arguably the most storied family in Democratic politics would work with Trump to keep a Democrat out of the White House. Even in recent months, Kennedy has accused Trump of betraying his followers, while Trump has criticized Kennedy as “the most radical left candidate in the race.”
Trump said it was a “great honor” to get Kennedy’s support, but sidestepped questions Friday about Kennedy’s policy positions and what jobs he might consider him for if he wins in the November contest.
Five of Kennedy’s family members issued a statement Friday calling his support for Trump “a sad ending to a sad story” and reiterating their support for Harris.
“Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear,” read the statement, which his sister Kerry Kennedy posted on X.
Jack Kennedy Schlossberg, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Caroline Kennedy, took the stage Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The 31-year-old lawyer, serving as a delegate for New York, commemorated his grandfather’s legacy and drew comparisons between him and Harris.
“The torch has been passed to a new generation of leader who shares my grandfather’s energy, vision and optimism for our future — that leader is Vice President Kamala Harris,” Schlossberg said, calling his grandfather his “hero.”
