RFK Jr.’s Wife Reacts to Him Suspending Campaign

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s wife, actress Cheryl Hines of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, said in a statement Friday afternoon that she “deeply” respects her husband’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
“The decision has been made to suspend my husband’s, Robert Kennedy Jr.’s, presidency and I’d like to extend a sincere, deeply heartfelt thank you to every person who has worked so tirelessly and lovingly on his campaign,” Hines, who has been married to Kennedy for over a decade, said in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat who ran as an independent for much of his 2024 campaign, said in a video message earlier Friday that he was suspending his presidential bid and instead endorsing Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump. Reports of Kennedy’s plans circulated earlier this week, and there is growing speculation that Kennedy will be offered some sort of role in Trump’s administration in exchange for his support.
“I deeply respect the decision Bobby made to run on the principle of unity,” Hines wrote on X. “Over the last year and a half, I have met some extraordinary people from all parties—Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. It’s been my experience that the vast majority of all parties are truly good people who want the best for our country and for each other. It has been an eye-opening, transformative, and endearing journey.”
Kennedy’s name will still appear on the ballot in a handful of states in November, including in battleground races like Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, where officials said that it was too late for the candidate to remove his name from the ballot, per the Associated Press. Kennedy took steps this week to withdraw his name from Arizona and Pennsylvania, two other key swing states.
Kennedy said during his announcement that the decision to end his campaign arrived after several weeks of conversations with Trump’s campaign. The former president told reporters that he was grateful for Kennedy’s support ahead of his campaign rally scheduled in Glendale, Arizona, Friday evening.
“I want to thank Bobby, that was very nice,” Trump said, according to CNN. “He’s a great guy, respected by everybody.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign for further comment via email on Friday.
Trump has touted that he will be joined by a “special guest” at his rally Friday. Neither Trump nor Kennedy’s team have commented on speculation that the independent candidate could be joining the former president on stage.
It’s unclear how Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump could impact the 2024 election, as the former president has been losing ground to Vice President Kamala Harris since she entered the race late last month. Several supporters of Kennedy said online Friday that they were open to switching their votes to Trump.
Polling from FiveThirtyEight shows that Kennedy holds 4.6 percent of the general vote on average. Harris is leading Trump by 3.7 percentage points across national polls as of Friday, per the pollster’s analysis.
In a statement obtained by Newsweek, Democratic National Committee Senior Advisor Mary Cahill said that Trump “isn’t earning an endorsement that’s going to help build support,” from Kennedy, but instead “inheriting the baggage of a failed fringe candidate.”
“Good riddance,” Cahill added.
Update 08/23/24, 5:24 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.