Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to be on the verge of dropping out of his bid for the presidency, an unlikely nomination made even more difficult to achieve given the burst of enthusiasm for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Kennedy has called a news conference for Friday in Phoenix, and a press release says the former Democrat and scion of one of the country's great political dynasties “will address the nation … on the current historic moment and its path forward.”
The announcement came as media outlets reported Kennedy was dropping out of the race and after interviews in which his vice presidential running mate, Nicole Shanahan, speculated about the end of her independent bid for the White House.
Shanahan said in an interview with a YouTube personality that the duo could drop out of the race and that Kennedy could potentially support former President Trump, the Republican nominee.
The Bay Area tech lawyer also said the independent candidate could stay in the race in hopes of creating a viable political movement for a future White House bid. She added: “But we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov. Tim] Walz presidency, as we get Trump votes, we somehow get more Trump votes.”
In a separate interview with Fox News, Shanahan said that while Kennedy would make the decision, he supported the idea of the former senator and attorney general's son, Robert F. Kennedy, stepping down and taking a job in a future Trump administration.
“Right now, we have the worst chronic health crisis in the world. More than 50 percent of children are diagnosed with some chronic illness,” said Shanahan, whose daughter lives with autism. “This is unconscionable and we are willing to work with anyone who is sincere in their efforts to solve and address this problem.”
Asked by Fox host Trace Gallagher if he saw a home for Kennedy in a Trump White House, perhaps at the Department of Health and Human Services, Shanahan said yes.
“I would fully support him. I would fully support a strong alliance dedicated to this issue,” she said. “A lot of people are saying that in his first term he didn’t accomplish a lot of the things that mothers really hoped he would do. [He] “He made some big mistakes around the pandemic. However, I think he is sincere.”
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Trump said of Kennedy: “I like him a lot. I respect him a lot. I didn’t know he was thinking about leaving, but if he is thinking about leaving, I would certainly be open to” appointing him to a government post.
Trump told Fox Business on Wednesday that he was not aware of any plans by Kennedy to endorse him, but “if he were to endorse me, would I be honored by that? Absolutely.”
Kennedy, a 70-year-old Los Angeles resident, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The veteran environmental lawyer and his 38-year-old running mate have been complaining for months about the Democratic Party, which has challenged Kennedy and Shanahan’s efforts to qualify for election in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Kennedy, who dropped out of the Democratic primary race in October, accused the party of not supporting open elections, as his father and uncle, President John F. Kennedy, once did.
“My father and uncle were members of a Democratic Party that was at the forefront of ensuring that every American could vote for the candidate they wanted,” Kennedy posted on social media platform X this week. “Today’s Democratic Party is doing the opposite.”
Kennedy spoke with Trump for about 90 minutes last month, sparking speculation that RFK Jr. might be considering throwing in his lot with the Republican.
Harris’s entry into the presidential race has garnered most of the media attention over the past month and pushed Kennedy further to the periphery. In July, when she was trailing in the polls, she was denied a spot on the debate stage with Trump and President Biden. She held an alternate session, which was streamed online but drew a small fraction of the audience that the two leading contenders received on live television.
When he has received media coverage, it has not always been favorable. Among them was the revelation by the New Yorker magazine earlier this month that, as an adult, RFK Jr. once carried the carcass of a bear cub from the woods to New York City, where he left the bloody corpse in Central Park as a prank.
Federal election records show the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket has raised $57 million — a substantial amount for an independent but less than a quarter of the amount raised by Harris’ campaign. Kennedy had just $3.9 million in cash on hand Wednesday, according to Federal Election Commission data.
Kennedy hoped that Americans’ disappointment with the two major parties’ candidates — Trump and, for months, President Biden — would give him a path to create a nonpartisan “unity government.”
Now, he appears closer to uniting with the Republican candidate and rejecting the party once led by his father and uncle.
On Friday, a few hours after Kennedy's planned speech in Phoenix, Trump will attend a rally in suburban Phoenix.
