- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told his followers to support Trump no matter where they lived
- He had originally told his supporters to only vote for Trump in key states.
- READ MORE: Live coverage of the debate day
Now Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is telling his supporters to vote for former President Donald Trump no matter where they live.
When Kennedy partially dropped out of the presidential race last month, he urged supporters to back Trump in key swing states but still vote for him if they lived in solidly Republican or Democratic states.
On Tuesday, ahead of Trump’s first on-stage meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris, the now former independent presidential candidate changed his tone.
“Bottom line: No matter what state you live in, VOTE FOR TRUMP,” Kennedy advised in a post on X. “A Trump win is a Kennedy win.”
In a linked video, he explained that voting for Trump is “the only way for me and everything I stand for to get to Washington, DC and accomplish the mission that motivated my campaign.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday that his supporters should vote for former President Donald Trump no matter where they live. He originally asked his supporters to choose Trump only if they lived in key swing states.
Kennedy made the announcement ahead of the first meeting between former President Donald Trump (left) and Vice President Kamala Harris, on the debate stage in Philadelphia. Kennedy is expected to be one of Trump’s surrogates in the press room on Tuesday.
He added that a disputed election would further fracture the country and that was why Trump needed to win in a landslide in both the popular vote and the Electoral College.
Trump lost the popular vote in both 2016 and 2020, but won the Electoral College recount in 2016, giving him his only term in office.
Kennedy launched his presidential campaign in April 2023 as a Democrat attempting to challenge President Joe Biden.
This measure alienated members of his famous political family.
His father was the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated while running for president in 1968. His uncle was the late President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.
The prominent anti-vaxxer further angered his family when he announced last October that he would run as an independent and spent the following months trying to get his name on ballots across the United States.
Democrats feared it could ruin the election and leave the race in Trump’s hands.
And then, the day after the Democratic National Convention, Kennedy traveled to Arizona, where he sort of endorsed Trump.
“I want everyone to know that I’m not ending my campaign, I’m just suspending it and not ending it,” Kennedy said. “My name will remain on the ballot in most states.”
He said he would take steps to remove his name from ballots in 10 key states and encouraged supporters living in those areas to back the Republican candidate.
“I was surprised to find that we are aligned on many key issues,” Kennedy said of Trump.
“At those meetings, he suggested that we join forces as a united party,” the independent continued. “We talked about Abraham Lincoln’s Team of Rivals.”
‘Such an agreement would allow us to disagree publicly and privately, and fiercely if necessary, on issues where we differ, while working together on the existential issues on which we agree.’
Kennedy is one of several officials who will be present Tuesday night in Philadelphia to bolster Trump’s case in the press room.
He will be joined by former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a progressive Democrat who is now a staunch MAGA supporter (Maga Trump), and even helped the former president with his debate prep.
At the same time, Democrats have kept Kennedy family members close.
On Friday, his nephew, JFK’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, visited President Joe Biden at the White House and was seen filming Biden flying to Michigan aboard Marine One.