RFK Jr. withdraws petition to be on Arizona ballot amid plans to end campaign

(WASHINGTON) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has officially withdrawn his petition to be on the Arizona ballot, the Arizona secretary of state’s office told ABC News Thursday night, marking the first tangible sign Kennedy plans to exit the presidential race.

“We have processed withdrawal forms for RFK prior to the ballot printing deadline,” Arizona secretary of state spokesperson JP Martin told ABC News. “No changes may be made to put the electors back on the ballot now.”

The ballot printing deadline for Arizona is 6 a.m. Friday, Martin said. That means if Kennedy’s campaign hadn’t filed withdrawal paperwork by then, Kennedy’s name would have been on the November ballot no matter what.

ABC News reported Wednesday that Kennedy plans to exit the race on Friday and endorse former President Donald Trump, according to sources.

A push from Trump’s team to secure an endorsement from Kennedy began in earnest about a week before the Republican National Convention, with a concerted effort, in particular, from Donald Trump Jr., Tucker Carlson and Omeed Malik, a donor to both Trump and Kennedy, sources told ABC News.

At the time, it was unclear to Trump’s team who Kennedy’s campaign hurt more: Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. That changed when Harris became the Democratic nominee, and surveys showed that Kennedy would take more votes from Trump than from her.

As ABC News previously reported, Trump and Kennedy spoke by phone in the hours after the assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania last month, then spoke in person in Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention.

Days after Kennedy’s son leaked a portion of the phone call, Kennedy interrupted a Zoom meeting with top supporters to take a call from Trump, according to two people in the meeting. When the call came in, he turned his iPhone to the screen to show the attendees who was calling.

Kennedy then stepped away for 10 minutes, and when he returned, he told attendees that Trump called to thank him for a message Kennedy had left him that day to apologize for the leak.

Though Kennedy still plans to exit the race on Friday and endorse Trump, some in his inner circle have concerns about such a move, multiple people familiar with the dynamics told ABC News.

Moreover, two people who know Kennedy described him as notoriously indecisive, though they had no indication the candidate planned to change his mind about his plans.

The Kennedy campaign lays blame for its current situation at the feet of Democrats, who have flooded the campaign with a deluge of lawsuits over ballot access.

Kennedy’s running mate Nicole Shanahan told ABC News that the lawsuits have drained the campaign of resources — money, time and energy — that it might have put toward campaigning and doing the work to win votes.

“We’re being prosecuted politically right now. This is not normal for democracy,” Shanahan said.

She also cited her and Kennedy’s desire for national unity and their motivation to advance the causes they care about, even if they can’t do so from the White House.

As for the conversations with Trump and his team, Shanahan said, “All we can do is gauge sincerity, and we’re gauging sincerity from Donald Trump.”