Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed paperwork on Thursday to withdraw his name from Arizona’s 2024 election ballot amid speculation that the former Democrat could drop out of the presidential race and endorse former President Donald Trump.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes shared a picture of Thursday’s paperwork filing and said, “RFK Jr.’s campaign filed official paperwork with our office today withdrawing him from AZ’s 2024 election.” Fontes added that the official filing would be made available to the public on Friday on the Arizona government’s website.
Following the announcement of Kennedy’s withdrawal from Arizona’s ballot, media personality Nick Sortor pointed to the speculation surrounding Kennedy’s major campaign announcement on Friday, tweeting, this comes just ones day before he’s set to drop out completely and endorse President Trump.”
Speculation regarding whether Kennedy could drop out of the race and endorse Trump increased after the Trump campaign announced that the former president would be “joined by a special guest” during a rally in Glendale, Arizona, on Friday.
Earlier in the week, Kennedy announced that he was planning to address the nation about the future of his presidential campaign at an event in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday. Kennedy’s highly-anticipated event on Friday comes as Kennedy’s vice presidential running mate suggested that the independent candidate was considering dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Trump to prevent Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) from winning the November election.
Shanahan told Fox News that the decision regarding the campaign’s future would ultimately be made by Kennedy and criticized the Democratic Party for targeting the independent candidate’s campaign. “There’s only one party that has obstructed fair, a fair election for us,” she said. “And unfortunately, it was the Democratic Party. They’ve done everything they can, including creating PACs to prevent us from being able to have ballot access.”
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Asked about the possibility of Kennedy dropping out of the race and endorsing him, Trump told Fox News, “He is a very good person. If he endorsed me, I would be honored by it. I would be very honored by it. He really has his heart in the right place. He is a respected person.”
Trump told Fox News that the Democrats treated Kennedy “very badly” and that “there was a good chance” Kennedy could have won against President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary election if the Democratic Party had not protected Biden throughout the primary process.
