Environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday he’ll drop his Democratic primary bid and run for president as an Independent, adding a wrinkle to a 2024 race heading toward a likely rematch between U.S. President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump.
Allies of both Biden and Trump have questioned whether Kennedy would be a spoiler against their candidate. “The truth is, they’re both right,” Kennedy said Monday.
The son of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential bid, Kennedy Jr. was banned from Instagram for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic but was later reinstated. He lost a legal bid to force YouTube owner Google to reinstate videos of him questioning the safety of COVID vaccines.
Kennedy’s siblings — Kerry Kennedy, Rory Kennedy and Joseph Kennedy II — on Monday denounced their brother’s candidacy in a statement: “Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment.”
Hours after Kennedy’s move, former Texas congressman Will Hurd suspended his bid for the Republican nomination.
Hurd failed to gain traction as a pragmatic moderate who pledged to lead the party away from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. He said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he would endorse Nikki Haley.
Here are the remaining declared 2024 hopefuls from both parties:
The Republican Party
Doug Burgum
North Dakota’s governor, Doug Burgum, joined the race for the Republican presidential nomination on June 6, making his announcement in the Wall Street Journal. A long-shot candidate known to few outside his home state, Burgum, 66, is a former computer software entrepreneur. In a video previewing his announcement, he portrayed himself as a rural state conservative, experienced in energy policy and far outside of the war of words that’s been going on between Trump and DeSantis.
Chris Christie
The former New Jersey governor formally launched his bid for the Republican nomination for president June 6. Christie has cast himself as the only candidate in the field willing to directly take on Trump. It’s Christie’s second try for the nomination, after losing to Trump in 2016 and going on to become a close adviser of his before breaking with the former president over his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.
Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched his presidential campaign bid in a highly anticipated live audio chat with Elon Musk on Twitter. But the event was plagued by technical problems, prompting mockery from his rivals and casting doubt about his viability as a candidate with enough support to defeat Trump, his one-time ally. His campaign said he raised $1 million within an hour of his presidential announcement, and $8.2 million in the 24 hours after his campaign launch.
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Larry Elder
The conservative talk radio host ran unsuccessfully in California’s recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom. Elder, 71, announced his candidacy on Tucker Carlson’s now-cancelled show on Fox News, and tweeted, “America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there.”
Nikki Haley
A former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Haley, 51, has emphasized her relative youth compared with Biden and Trump, as well as her background as the daughter of two Indian immigrants. She has gained a reputation in the Republican Party as a solid conservative who has pitched herself as a stalwart defender of American interests abroad.
Asa Hutchinson
The former Arkansas governor launched his bid for the White House in April with a call for Trump to step aside to deal with his indictment. Hutchinson, 72, has touted his experience leading the deeply conservative state as proof he can deliver on policies Republican voters care about, citing his record with tax cuts and job creation initiatives as particular sources of pride. Still, his name recognition remains limited outside Arkansas.
Mike Pence
The former U.S. vice-president declared himself a candidate in the 2024 Republican race for the White House on June 5, setting up a fight against his former running mate, Trump, whom he once loyally stood by but refused to back when Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. A staunch social conservative, Pence has warned against the growing populist tide in the party, and advisers see him as the only traditional, Reagan-style conservative in the race.
Vivek Ramaswamy
A former biotechnology investor and executive, Ramaswamy, 37, launched a firm in 2022 to pressure companies to abandon environmental, social and corporate governance initiatives. He announced in February he was running for the Republican nomination. The political outsider remains a long-shot candidate.
Tim Scott
The only Black Republican U.S. senator declared his candidacy on May 22. Scott, 57, has low name recognition outside his home state of South Carolina, but his optimism and focus on unifying his divided party have helped him draw a contrast with the more aggressive approach by some of his opponents. Scott supporters, however, acknowledge that while his sunny demeanour is a selling point, it may not be enough to defeat the front-runners.
Donald Trump
Trump announced his election campaign last November, even as he faced criticism from within his party over his support of candidates who performed badly in the 2022 midterms. He has been the front-runner ever since, with a firm grip on his base. The 76-year-old former president even increased his standing in polls after he was indicted in connection with an alleged hush-money payment to a porn star. At the same time, he remains unpopular with much of the U.S. electorate.
The Democratic Party
Joe Biden
U.S. President Joe Biden announced he would run again on April 25, four years to the day after he declared his 2020 candidacy. The 80-year-old Democrat, already the oldest U.S. president ever, confirmed his intentions in a video in which he declared it his job to defend American democracy.
Marianne Williamson
The best-selling author and self-help guru launched her second, long-shot bid for the White House on March 23. She ran as a Democrat in the 2020 presidential primary but dropped out of the race before any votes had been cast.
Independent
Robert Kennedy Jr.
An anti-vaccine activist, Kennedy, 69, abandoned his run as a Democrat to become an Independent candidate Oct. 9, saying he wants to make a “new Declaration of Independence” — from corporations, from the media and from the two major political parties.
“I’ve come here today to declare our independence from the tyranny of corruption which robs us of affordable lives, our belief in the future, and our respect for each other,” Kennedy said.
The longtime environmentalist and son of former U.S. senator and attorney general Robert F. Kennedy has been known in recent years for his anti-vaccine activism. His announcement saw some of his siblings release a statement to “denounce his candidacy” as “perilous for our country.”
Dropped out: Will Hurd (R), Francis Suarez (R).
