Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent presidential campaign and threw his support behind GOP nominee Donald Trump on Friday, saying in remarks in Phoenix that he was endorsing the former president because he saw no viable path to the White House.

“In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path to electoral victory,” Kennedy said. “I cannot in good conscience ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours or ask my donors to keep giving when I cannot honestly tell them that I have a real path to the White House.”

Kennedy said three issues encouraged him to leave the Democratic Party and “to throw my support to President Trump”: free speech, the war in Ukraine and the “war on our children.”

“My joining the Trump campaign will be a difficult sacrifice for my wife and children, but worthwhile if there’s even a small chance of saving these kids,” he said. He said that processed foods, chemicals and obesity were destroying the health of children in the U.S.

The son of Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, RFK Jr.’s announcement was met with condemnation by other members of the storied political family. Kerry Kennedy, the candidate’s sister, said in a statement on behalf of her and four other family members that his decision to endorse Trump was “a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear” and “a sad ending to a sad story.”

His wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, thanked volunteers for their work on the campaign, saying they “accomplished feats that were said to be impossible.”

Kennedy also said he wasn’t “terminating” his campaign, merely suspending it, and he would remain on the ballot in many noncompetitive states. “In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started the process,” he said, adding that people in red states and blue states could vote for him “without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris.”

And he held out the distant possibility that if neither Trump nor Harris were able to win 270 electoral votes, tying 269 to 269, “I could conceivably still end up in the White House in a contingent election.”

Kennedy’s campaign

Kennedy’s campaign had been seeking ballot access in states including Arizona as recently as this week, although he filed paperwork Thursday evening to withdraw his candidacy in the battleground state — a foreshadowing of his announcement. When he suspended his campaign, he was on the ballot in over 23 states and awaiting confirmation in another 22.

Before his speech, he disclosed that he was ending his candidacy in a court filing in Pennsylvania and said he and running mate Nicole Shanahan were seeking to withdraw their petition to appear on Pennsylvania’s presidential ballot.

He will be on the ballot in the battleground state of Michigan, however.

“He cannot withdraw at this point,” a spokesperson from Michigan’s office of the secretary of state. “His name will remain on the ballot.” 

In his remarks, Kennedy claimed that “in an honest system, I believe that I would have won the election.”

He blasted the Democratic Party — his former party and that of his father and uncle — saying that it has become “the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big tech, big ag and big money.” 

Kennedy thanked his staffers for their tireless work these months. 

“You carried me off that glass mountain,” he said. 

Kennedy originally entered the race as a Democrat, challenging President Biden for the nomination, before deciding last October to run as an independent. Kennedy is a bestselling author and was an environmental lawyer who worked on issues such as clean water.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, the chair of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, appealed to Kennedy’s supporters in a statement after his announcement Friday.

“For any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you,” she said. “In order to deliver for working people and those who feel left behind, we need a leader who will fight for you, not just for themselves, and bring us together, not tear us apart. Vice President Harris wants to earn your support.”

In one of the more surprising revelations during his campaign, Kennedy also admitted that he had put a dead bear cub in New York City’s Central Park nearly 10 years ago. 

No poll has shown Kennedy with enough support to defeat either Trump and Harris nationally or in any state, but polls during his campaign suggested he might attract enough support to make a difference in some of the battleground states where the margins of victory were thin in 2020 and 2016.

Kennedy, one of 11 children, lost both his uncle and father to assassinations. He received Secret Service protection last month after the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania. 

In recent years, Kennedy has promoted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and was shunned by several members of his family who earlier this year endorsed Mr. Biden.

contributed to this report.