Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sudden decision to suspend his campaign and support former President Trump is raising questions about whether he could actually tip the scales in key battleground states.
Some Republicans say Kennedy’s move will help the GOP attract more votes in places where Trump is slightly behind Vice President Harris.
Harris supporters don’t anticipate Kennedy giving Trump much of an advantage, but they aren’t stopping their counteroffensive against him, either.
Kennedy’s third-party allies, meanwhile, are proud to pivot to Team MAGA and are optimistic that their influence will grow as a result.
“Trump gonna get some momentum after this,” said one Kennedy source briefed on the conversations leading up to the decision last Friday. “Bobby has a dedicated and mobilized grassroots army. I’m genuinely excited.”
Kennedy’s choice to end his campaign in states where polls showed him hurting Trump came after the two campaigns reached what they're framing as a mutually beneficial agreement. While Kennedy encouraged his supporters to vote for him where he’s still on the ballot, his choice to remove his name from battlegrounds means he’s no longer looking to win the election.
In what essentially amounted to a concession speech, Kennedy announced during an appearance in Phoenix, Ariz., last Friday that he was removing himself from states where he was considered a “spoiler.”
“I no longer believe that I have a realistic path to electoral victory,” he said.
A second Kennedy source directly familiar with his campaign strategy said he was planning to “bail on all the swing states” prior to him doing it. His goal was now to help Trump, whom he had talked to multiple times in recent........