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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined former President Trump at a rally in Arizona on Friday, hours after the independent candidate suspended his campaign and backed the GOP presidential nominee.

Why it matters: The impact of Kennedy’s endorsement is likely to be small, but even a marginal boost for the former president in the margins of a few key battlegrounds could tilt a razor-thin election.

• “In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path to electoral victory,” Kennedy said Friday, speaking in Phoenix, Arizona.

The big picture: Kennedy had once been one of the biggest wild cards of the 2024 presidential election. But he struggled to find his footing after Vice President Harris entered the race, facing declining poll numbers and dwindling cash reserves.

• Kennedy had been polling in the low single digits for months as an Independent but lost around half that support once Harris replaced President Biden.

Zoom in: “I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it,” Kennedy said earlier Friday.

• He said that he would keep his name on the ballot in states that are not competitive but seek to remove his name “in about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler.”
• A Pennsylvania court filing said Kennedy requested to be removed from the state’s ballot “as a result of today’s endorsement” of Trump.
• Trump thanked Kennedy for the “very nice” endorsement, saying that “he’s a great guy, respected by everybody.”

Trump echoed his earlier sentiment at his campaign rally.

• “Bobby and I will fight together to defeat the corrupt political establishment,” he said alongside Kennedy.
• “All who supported Bobby’s campaign, I very simply ask you, join us in building this coalition.”

The other side: DNC Senior Advisor Mary Beth Cahill said that “Trump isn’t earning an endorsement that’s going to help build support, he’s inheriting the baggage of a failed fringe candidate.”

• “Good riddance,” she said in a statement.

State of play: Kennedy and Trump met at the Republican National Convention last month and discussions between the two men about a potential endorsement reportedly continued over the last several weeks.

• The Kennedy-Trump alliance is a dramatic turn for the independent presidential candidate and scion of one of America’s most prominent Democratic political dynasties.
• Members of the Kennedy family quickly condemned his Trump endorsement on Friday, writing that it is a “betrayal to the values that our father and our family hold most dear.”

Go deeper: Trump echoes Kennedy’s vaccine conspiracies in leaked phone call

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with details from Trump’s rally.

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