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Ahead of a planned speech,\u00a0Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s<\/a> campaign said in a Pennsylvania court filing Friday that he is endorsing\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0for president.<\/p>\n Kennedy\u2019s independent campaign also requested that he be removed from the Pennsylvania ballot, though it was not immediately clear that he was officially dropping out of the race.<\/p>\n Kennedy had a speech planned in Arizona on Friday to discuss \u201cthe present historical moment and his path forward,\u201d according to his campaign. Hours later, Trump will hold a rally in neighboring Glendale. Trump\u2019s campaign has teased that he will be joined by \u201ca special guest,\u201d though neither campaign responded to messages about whether Kennedy would be that guest.<\/p>\n The late-stage development in the presidential race could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy\u2019s supporters.<\/p>\n A year ago, some would have thought it inconceivable that a member of arguably the most storied family in Democratic politics would work with Trump to keep a Democrat \u2014 Vice President Kamala Harris \u2014 out of the White House. Even in recent months, Kennedy has accused Trump of betraying his followers, while Trump has criticized Kennedy as \u201cthe most radical left candidate in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pennsylvania filing came Friday in a case in which Kennedy was defending his paperwork to get on the ballot in the battleground state against a challenge by two Democratic activists.<\/p>\n The filing said that, \u201cas a result of today\u2019s endorsement of Donald Trump\u201d he was requesting the dismissal of his campaign\u2019s nomination papers so that he would not appear on Pennsylvania\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n The Kennedy and Trump campaigns have ramped up their compliments to each other and engaged in behind-the-scenes discussions in recent weeks, according to those familiar with the efforts. Both campaigns have spent months accusing Democrats of weaponizing the legal system for their own benefit. And both have hinted publicly that they could be open to joining forces, with the shared goal of limiting Harris\u2019 chances.<\/p>\n Last month, during the Republican National Convention, Kennedy\u2019s son posted and then quickly deleted a video showing a phone call between Kennedy and Trump, in which the former president appeared to try to talk Kennedy into siding with him.<\/p>\n Talks between the two camps continued, with close Trump allies quietly lobbying Kennedy to drop out of the race and support the Republican nominee, according to a person familiar with the efforts who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.<\/p>\n Trump told CNN on Tuesday that he would \u201clove\u201d an endorsement from Kennedy, whom he called a \u201cbrilliant guy.\u201d He also said he would \u201ccertainly\u201d be open to Kennedy playing a role in his administration if Kennedy drops out and endorses him.<\/p>\n Kennedy\u2019s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, also openly suggested on a podcast this week that his campaign might \u201cwalk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump.\u201d While she clarified that she is not personally in talks with Trump, she entertained the idea that Kennedy could join Trump\u2019s administration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that Bobby in a role like that would be excellent,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cI fully support it. I have high hopes.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier Friday, Shanahan posted on X<\/a> that she isn\u2019t a Kamala Democrat or a Trump Republican.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m an INDEPENDENT American who is endorsing ideas, not a person or a party,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI will continue working to give a voice to the voiceless and bring power back to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n At Kennedy\u2019s Phoenix event, 38-year-old Casey Westerman, a Chandler, Arizona, resident who works in software sales, said she trusted Kennedy\u2019s judgment and had planned to vote for him, but would support Trump if Kennedy said that was who he was endorsing.<\/p>\n \u201cMy decision would really be based on who he thinks is best suited to run this country,\u201d said Westerman, who wore a \u201cKennedy 2024\u201d trucker hat and voted for Trump in the last two presidential elections.<\/p>\n The scheduled remarks by Kennedy, a son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, come as his campaign\u2019s momentum has slipped.<\/p>\n Kennedy Jr. first entered the 2024 presidential race as a Democrat but left the party last fall to run as an independent. He built an unusually strong base for a third-party bid, fueled in part by anti-establishment voters and vaccine skeptics who have followed his anti-vaccine work since the COVID-19 pandemic. But he has since faced strained campaign finances and mounting legal challenges, including a recent ruling from a New York judge that he should not appear on the ballot in the state because he listed a \u201csham\u201d address on nominating petitions.<\/p>\n Many members of Kennedy\u2019s extended family have been vocal that they don\u2019t see eye to eye politically with Kennedy Jr., and some came out publicly to endorse Biden before he dropped out of the race.<\/p>\n Recent polls<\/a>\u00a0put his support in the mid-single digits. And it\u2019s unclear if he\u2019d get even that in a general election, since third-party candidates\u00a0frequently don\u2019t live up to their early poll numbers<\/a>\u00a0when voters actually cast their ballots.<\/p>\n There\u2019s some evidence that Kennedy\u2019s staying in the race would hurt Trump more than Harris. According to a July AP-NORC poll, Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats to have a favorable view of Kennedy. And those with a positive impression of Kennedy were significantly more likely to also have a favorable view of Trump (52%) than Harris (37%).<\/p>\n In an interview with MSNBC at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday, Harris communications director Michael Tyler said her campaign welcomes Kennedy voters should the independent candidate drop out.<\/p>\n For voters who see Trump as a threat, who are looking for a new way forward, or who want \u201cgovernment to get the hell out of the way of their own personal decisions, there\u2019s a home for you in Kamala Harris\u2019 campaign,\u201d Tyler said.<\/p>\n For Trump, Friday will mark the end of a week\u2019s worth of battleground state visits in which he has sought to draw attention away from Democrats\u2019 celebration of\u00a0Harris\u2019 presidential nomination<\/a>\u00a0in Chicago.<\/p>\n He traveled to Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Arizona\u2019s U.S.-Mexico border for events focused on his policy proposals on the economy, crime and safety, national security and the border. He will close out the week Friday with stops in Las Vegas and Glendale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n