Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abandons plan to seek votes in uncompetitive states

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate who recently endorsed Donald Trump, called on his supporters Thursday to vote for the Republican nominee no matter where they live, reversing instructions he gave two weeks ago when he encouraged voters to still vote for Kennedy if they lived in uncompetitive states.

“No matter what state you live in, I urge you to vote for Donald Trump,” he wrote in a fundraising email. “The reason is that is the only way we can get me and everything I stand for into Washington D.C. and fulfill the mission that motivated my campaign.”

The new message comes as he has expanded the list of Republican-leaning states where he seeks to remove his name from the ballot, even as he continues to fight to add his name to ballots in blue states where Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is expected to win.

Kennedy previously said he would only remove his name from about 10 battleground states where his presence could make him a spoiler that benefits Harris and hurts Trump. “If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. In red states, the same will apply,” he said on Aug. 23.

Since then he has removed his name from the ballots in Ohio, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Utah and Wyoming — all Republican-leaning states where the presidential race is not competitive — while ending his bid to achieve ballot access in the ruby-red state of North Dakota. His campaign says he may seek to remove his name from other safe Republican states in the coming days.

At the same time, Kennedy’s suspended campaign continues to fight to be on the ballot in New York, Oregon, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — Democratic bastions where Harris is expected to win easily. He also plans to remain on the ballot in other blue states like Hawaii and California, as well as Alaska, where Trump is expected to win, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, the campaign manager for Kennedy’s suspended presidential bid, said in an interview Thursday.

She said the list of states where he would seek to leave the ballot remains a work in progress. Robert Kennedy had grown increasingly concerned in recent days about the consequences of a Harris victory, including its impact on his ability to run again in 2028, she added. He worried that the media coverage of his exit from the race could lead to him taking votes away from Trump in even more conservative states.

“The scope of states in which his presence might draw enough support to inadvertently boost Harris has expanded,” Fox Kennedy said. “It’s precautionary, but the endurance of free speech is too crucial to play political dice.”

Trump campaign advisers have encouraged Kennedy to remove his name from the ballot “wherever he can,” said a Trump campaign official familiar with the conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss campaign strategy. Down-ballot Republican strategists have been divided on whether Kennedy’s presence on the ballot in states like Texas and Ohio where Trump is all but certain to win could affect key GOP Senate campaigns.

Kennedy has had mixed success in getting off ballots in the core battleground states where Harris, Trump and their allies have been advertising. Officials in Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina have declined Kennedy’s requests to drop his name from ballots, though the legal fights are ongoing. Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada authorities have indicated that he will not be on ballots in those states. He has also removed his name in New Hampshire, Maine and Virginia, where Trump has his campaign headquarters.

Kennedy’s decision last month to suspend his campaign and embrace Trump followed weeks of courtship between the two men that began in the hours after the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump. The former president has invited Kennedy to be a part of his transition team if he wins, and has suggested that Kennedy could have a role advising on policy in a second term.

“There is no deal in terms of me getting a particular post,” Kennedy said in an Aug. 30 appearance on the All-In podcast. “There is just an understanding there would be some kind of co-governance.”

When he announced his decision to suspend his campaign, he told his supporters they would be able to vote for him in states where the presidential election was not in doubt. He encouraged supporters in most of the country to still vote for him, as long as they did not live in 10 states where he believed he could spoil the election for Trump.

Kennedy argued on Aug. 26 that, if enough people vote for him, it’s possible that neither Harris nor Trump would win the 270 electoral votes needed to win election. “In fact, today our polling shows them tying it 269 to 269, and I could conceivably still end up in the White House in a contingent election,” he said.

There is no recent precedent for an independent candidate for president endorsing a major-party competitor while also continuing to try to gather votes for himself, said Richard Winger, the publisher of Ballot Access News. There have been cases in the past of presidential candidates being put on ballots without their consent, like U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was on the ballot in seven states in 1952, or former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who was on the ballot in two states in 2008, Winger said.

Kennedy has argued that he should be able to decide where he gets to be on the ballot, even though he supports another candidate. “I think that I ought to be able to be on the ballots where I want to be on, and not be on the ballots where I don’t want to be on,” Kennedy said in a recent appearance on NewsNation.

Democrats have accused Kennedy of “playing games with our democracy” to benefit Trump.

“RFK Jr.’s manipulation of the system to get on the ballot where it helps Trump and off the ballot where it hurts is unprecedented and undemocratic,” Democratic National Committee adviser Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “In the process, he’s creating a logistical nightmare for states.”

Kennedy plans to travel the country over the coming weeks to support Trump and the issues he has focused on, including reforms to U.S. food regulations. Fox Kennedy said he has events planned with former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who also endorsed Trump last month, as well as other events with Calley Means, a healthy food activist whom Kennedy credits with brokering his introduction to Trump.

“This isn’t about splitting votes or sending mixed signals,” Kennedy wrote in the fundraising email Thursday. “It’s about creating a united front that will carry us through these turbulent times and restore integrity to our government.”