Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he will postpone his run for US president and will support Donald Trump’s campaign.
Mr Kennedy, 70, a lifelong Democrat and a descendant of the Kennedy dynasty, said the principles that led him to leave the party now forced him “to support President Trump”.
He asserted at a press conference in Arizona that he would not drop out and would keep his name on the ballot in states that did not affect the race.
Republican candidate Trump said the endorsement was “very good… he’s a great guy”, while Democratic rival Kamala Harris said she would “win” the support of Kennedy voters.
The decision effectively ended a campaign fueled by Mr. Kennedy’s anti-vaccination views and peppered with stories about dead bears and brain worms. His poll numbers had fallen from double-digit highs as money and national coverage dried up.
He ran a prominent ad during the Super Bowl in February that referenced his father, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and uncle, President John F. Kennedy, which drew the ire of much of his family.
His sister, Kerry Kennedy, said his support for Trump was “a betrayal of the values our father and our family held most dear. This is a sad ending to a sad story.”
Mr Kennedy said Mr Trump’s insistence that he could end the war in Ukraine by negotiating with Russia “that alone justifies my support for his campaign”.
“There are still many issues and approaches where we still have very serious differences. But we have agreed on other important issues.”
He said he would remove his name from 10 states where his presence would be a “spoiler” for Trump’s efforts. He withdrew from the battleground states of Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Mr Kennedy said he launched his campaign “as a Democrat, the party of my father, my uncle… the defenders of the Constitution” but left because “this party has become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big money”.
He blamed his decision to suspend his campaign on “media control” and efforts by his former party to block him, adding: “In my heart, I no longer believe that I have any realistic path to victory against relentless and systematic censorship.”
ReutersAccording to the Associated Press, Mr. Kennedy hovered around 14% to 16% in polls when he was most popular. However, his approval rating has dropped to single digits since Ms. Harris became the Democratic nominee.
During the press conference, he said he had offered to work with Ms. Harris and her White House bid.
Democrats ignored his announcement. “Donald Trump is not getting the support he needs to build support, he is inheriting the burden of being a failed marginal candidate. How fortunate,” Democratic National Committee senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill said in a statement.
Mr Kennedy’s campaign became synonymous with the anti-vaccine movement as he frequently touted his leadership of the Children’s Health Defense organization, formerly known as the World Mercury Project.
In recent weeks, Mr Kennedy has recounted dumping a dead bear cub in New York’s Central Park in 2014 as a joke.
Earlier in the campaign, he revealed that he had been infected with a brain parasite more than a decade ago, causing severe memory loss and brain fog.
His statement ended days of speculation that Mr Kennedy had offered his support to Trump to secure a role in his next administration.
Earlier this week, Trump told CNN that he would “certainly have Kennedy play some role,” while Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., said he would be good at “destroying” a federal department.
Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar at the conservative Institute for Policy Innovation, told the BBC that Mr Kennedy’s decision highlighted the two-party system in the US and how “it’s difficult to bring new ideas and new people into the process”.
Mike Wendling also contributed to this report.
