When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped the bombshell that he was suspending his presidential campaign and throwing his support behind former President Donald Trump two weeks ago, he spoke at length about his reasons for doing so. Kennedy noted that while he and Trump differ on many issues, they agree on some core issues and values, and both men determined that uniting increased the chances of defeating Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats in November.
At the time, Kennedy also explained his strategy: He would remove his name from the ballot in the 10 contested/swing states but leave it on the ballot in the other 40 so that his supporters in the solid red or blue states could still vote for him — and, in theory, leaving open the possibility that he could actually become president in the event of an Electoral College tie between Trump and Harris.
However, as hard as many states have been fighting to keep Kennedy off the ballot up until two weeks ago, some of the states in which he then asked to be removed from the ballot decided to fight that effort. Earlier Friday, appellate courts in both Michigan and North Carolina finally ruled in Kennedy’s favor, ordering his name to be removed from the ballots in those states.
But now, to be on the safe side and avoid the possibility of confusion, Kennedy has altered his strategy and is now urging all of his supporters to simply vote for Trump. Kennedy explained the rationale for changing up the strategy in an appearance on NewsNation Thursday afternoon, sharing the clip to his X timeline on Friday.
Here's why I am asking all of my supports to vote for President Trump. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/LXJWULWkT5
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) September 6, 2024
“We’re going to send a very strong message out that people who are my supporters — that we want them to vote for President Trump…If we’re going to accomplish the mission that I set out to accomplish when I got into this campaign — to end the censorship, to end the surveillance, to get out of Ukraine war and unravel the war machine, to end the chronic disease epidemic — the only way to do that is to get President Trump in the White House and me into Washington. So, we’re going to pull out all the stops to make sure that happens.”
Since making his initial announcement, Kennedy and running mate Nicole Shanahan have seemingly gone all-in on getting Trump elected. Both have been putting out ads that champion the unity ticket and “MAHA” — Make America Healthy Again.
Trump, in turn, has named Kennedy, along with former Democratic Congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard to his transition team. And the unity message seems to be resonating.
In the long run, it’s likely for the best for Kennedy to encourage his supporters to vote for Trump, regardless of whether they’re in a swing state or reliably red or blue state, given that the race is expected to be fairly tight — first and foremost, to avoid any confusion, and second, to reduce the likelihood of a close electoral vote with a significant popular vote disparity (which invites the knives out for the Electoral College).
