Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Friday that he is suspending his independent campaign for president and endorsed former president Donald Trump.

While announcing his suspension of his campiagn, Kennedy said that he is choosing to stay on the ballot in most states but will remove his name in swing states. He didnโ€™t name which states, butย according to The Texas Secretary of State websiteย Kennedy has withdrawn from being on the Texas ballot. Kennedy did withdraw from theย Arizona ballot on Thursday.

Recent polling shows Vice President Kamala Harrisย within striking distanceย of winning Texas, a stronger showing than when President Joe Biden was a candidate for reelection and was polling behind Trump in Texas by nearly double digits.ย In the same poll, Kennedy had roughly 2% of support from likely Texans voters. He had reached a high of 8% in earlier polling.

Two weeks ago, the Texas Secretary of State’s officeย accepted Kennedy’s petitionย to appear on the state ballot.ย According to the state election code, a candidate has until the 74th day before election day to withdraw from the general election.

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As the race tightens between Harris and Trump, Kennedyโ€™s endorsement couldย help Trump in swing states. Josh Blank, director of research for the Texas Politics Project said that in Texas, the endorsement would make little difference.

Kennedy has seen anย increase in his unfavorable ratingย among Texas voters because of the multiple negative news cycles revolving around Kennedy’s past, said Blank. Texas Republicans voters held slightly more favorable views of Kennedy than Democrats.

โ€œKennedy’s support has been eroding in the state as elsewhere,โ€ Blank said, โ€œand it’s not clear his endorsement would hold that much sway.

This article was written by ย Juan Salinas II of The Texas Tribune. This article originally appeared at : https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/23/kennedy-withdraws-texas-ballot/