Independent United States presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he was not dropping out of the 2024 race, heavily criticizing the Democratic Party and media outlets.
Speaking in a live-streamed event from Phoenix on Aug. 23, Kennedy said he was “simply suspending,” but not ending, his campaign for the US presidency in 2024. RFK Jr. said his name would “remain on the ballot in most states,” but he would remove himself in 10 background states to avoid being a “spoiler” for either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump.
“In an honest system, I believe I would have won the election,” said Kennedy. “In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path to 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.”
Source: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy called on supporters to vote for him in November, suggesting that there was still a path to victory if Harris and Trump tied with 269 electoral votes. Under the US Constitution, if no candidate in the presidential race gets a majority of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives will vote on a winner from the top three contenders.
Many had expected the Independent candidate to publicly announce he was ending his campaign after he filed a statement of withdrawal with the Arizona Secretary of State on Aug. 22. Despite saying he intended to try and keep his name on the ballot in most states, RFK Jr. said he would support Trump in 2024, claiming that Vice President Harris “declined to meet or even to speak” with him.
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After launching his campaign initially as a Democrat in 2023, RFK Jr. made digital assets and blockchain technology a central issue. In addition to advocating for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), he argued against the US introducing a central bank digital currency and suggested putting the national budget on the blockchain.
Harris or Trump?
At the time of publication, many polls showed Vice President Harris and Trump neck and neck in the 2024 race for the presidency. Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination at the party’s convention in Chicago on Aug. 22.
Since its launch on July 21, the Harris campaign has rarely specifically mentioned digital assets or blockchain technology. However, industry advocates have suggested that the vice president may have less latitude to openly contradict Biden administration policies.
Trump, in contrast, began accepting crypto contributions to his campaign in May and later said he wanted all BTC mined in the US. He and RFK Jr. spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville.
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