Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he is suspending his campaign—but is “not ending it,” according to media reports.
“I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it and not ending it. My name will remain on the ballot in most states,” he said in Phoenix on Aug. 23, per CNN.
“In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path of electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control. So 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 added.
Kennedy also said that he is now backing Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, adding that Trump asked to “enlist him in his administration.”
Regarding LGBTQ+ issues, Kennedy recently called gender-affirming care a “non-existential” issue, according to CBS News. However, he has weighed in on it, backing a ban on certain treatments, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for minors. In the past, Kennedy has spread misinformation, including conspiracies that chemicals in the environment could be making children gay or transgender—theories with no basis in scientific research. He also has suggested that poppers, not HIV, causes AIDS, according to a GLAAD fact sheet.