Robert F. Kennedy suspends his independent presidential campaign and backs Trump

Updated August 23, 2024 at 16:28 PM ET

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is suspending his long-shot independent presidential candidacy. He announced Friday that he is seeking to remove his name from ballots in battleground states, and is instead asking supporters to back Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Kennedy — a scion of a famous American political family who is now known broadly as an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist — vowed to upend the two-party system but failed to gain the traction needed to compete in the race.