LOS ANGELES—A group of die-hard Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supporters still see a path to victory for their candidate and urged voters to support him at a rally held Aug. 25 near Beverly Hills.
Kennedy announced his decision to remove his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states in a speech Friday, essentially ending his presidential campaign to join forces with former President Donald Trump.
Despite the change in direction, which the volunteers said they support, they still see two paths to securing the White House in the future, she and other supporters of Team Kennedy explained.
“We feel that it is a possibility,” Jones said. “Mr. Kennedy can still win. We know it’s more of a long shot now, but every vote counts.”
Another, more attainable outcome, would be for Kennedy to get 5 percent or more of the popular vote in the 40 states where he remains on the ballot.
Earning 5 percent of the vote would qualify Kennedy to be on all state ballots if he ran in 2028, in contrast to this year’s campaign, which had to fight legal challenges from the Democratic Party for a spot. It would also allow him to get federal campaign funds.
The possibilities motivated about 50 team members to gather Aug. 25 at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Veteran Avenue in front of the Los Angeles federal building. The group waved banners and signs and received positive attention from motorists with the mantra “People Over Party.”
The organization is not officially affiliated with the Kennedy campaign and plans to continue rallying and canvassing voters in California, where Kennedy remains on the November ballot.
“The volunteers are energized, because here’s a man who stood so strongly on principles, who’s put his life on the line for America,” said volunteer Michael Maxsenti of Orange County.
Kennedy’s national campaign is still legally active but most of the staff was terminated Friday after his announcement, Jones said.
One supporter, Julia Fosman of San Diego, said she immigrated from Romania, where the communist government would threaten jail for dissenters, she said. She pulled up a quote by President John Adams written in 1775 that she keeps on her phone.
“Liberty once lost is lost forever,” she said, reading from the phone. “I really like that. I just want my kids and grandkids to have their own choices, with nobody to tell them what to do.”
Her grandfather used to listen to foreign radio programs, and her grandmother would beg him to stop or “they would put us all in jail,” Fosman said. “When we had elections, we would go to vote and they only had one name on the ballot.”
Fosman, whose twin children are now 24, said she volunteered to support Kennedy after she heard he was being kept off ballots and wasn’t allowed to debate other presidential candidates. “It’s an insult to our freedom that we collect signatures, we spend our time doing this, and then they treat us like we don’t exist, like we’re not people,” she said.
Kennedy told media outlets last weekend that he planned to continue campaigning for Trump, with whom he has been in communication about various issues since the failed assassination attempt of the former president in July. He said he and Trump agreed on some of the issues he considered most important, including rooting out corruption, ending world conflicts, and combatting government censorship.
Kennedy also said he hoped to have a role in a Trump administration and planned to champion efforts to end chronic health problems in children, including investigating what has caused a dramatic increase in childhood diseases in the country.
The Harris campaign didn’t address Kennedy’s announcement directly Friday, but issued a statement to voters.
“For any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you,” campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in the statement.
The California Democratic Party did not immediately return a request for comment about allegations made by Kennedy’s supporters.
Suzanne Finder, a Team Kennedy lead volunteer from San Diego and a trauma specialist, said she was concerned about the division between parties and people in the country and believed Kennedy could open up the national conversation and reach across the aisle to get people to work together.
“The division is going to kill us,” she said. “If we’re not compassionate and hear the concerns of others, we’re going down the toilet.”
