He struggled to reconcile his with a need to win over a broad electorate. Kennedy repeatedly courted the anti-vaccine influencers and organizations that were integral to his career, leading to severe criticism from Democrats and other groups pointing to his comments and associations to frame him as a radical. On Thursday, after his campaign announced his intentions to give a Friday update on the state of the race, he tweeted out an 11-minute video he said was an attempt to "set the record straight by explaining my exact posture, point-by-point, one what is probably the most controversial issue of my campaign," his stance on vaccines. Just 24 hours later, he left the race.
Kennedy also flip-flopped on abortion policy throughout his campaign: In August 2023, while still running as a Democrat, that he'd support signing a national abortion ban after the first three months of pregnancy, before his campaign quickly walked back the comments. Then this May, Kennedy said in a podcast episode that he would support "full-term abortions," . Days later, Kennedy .
And at an organizational level, Kennedy's camp struggled at times under the weight of having to fund a massive ballot access program to get on ballots in enough states to win the presidency. By August, only a handful of states had certified Kennedy's place on the ballot, and he has continued to face legal challenges, including a in New York.
Even though that ballot access program fell short, it wasn't cheap. The Kennedy campaign spent more than $8 million on campaign consulting from Accelevate 2020 LLC, a group that also does ballot-access work.
Overall, the campaign effectively raised what it spent — it amassed $57.6 million and spent almost $54 million through July. But that fundraising includes $15 million in direct contributions from Kennedy's vice presidential candidate, Shanahan, who spent the week the campaign was about to end. (The campaign also refunded her more than $900,000 last month.)
"There's two options that we're looking at, and one is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency, because we draw votes from Trump or we draw somehow more votes from Trump," she said on a .
"Or we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump. And, you know, we walk away from that and we explain to our base why we're making this decision," Shanahan continued.
On Friday, Shanahan posted on social media, writing: "I'm not a Kamala Democrat. I'm not a Trump Republican [.] I'm an INDEPENDENT American who is endorsing ideas, not a person or a party. I will continue working to give a voice to the voiceless and bring power back to the people."
There have been other financial drains on the campaign, too, including the millions Kennedy spent on security as he repeatedly called on the federal government to provide him with Secret Service protection, evoking the political assassinations of his famous father and uncle.
Federal campaign finance records show Kennedy's campaign spent more than $3 million on security services provided by Gavin de Becker, a prominent security consultant protecting celebrities . The campaign is also carrying an additional $3 million in debt to de Becker's company.
The campaign after the assassination attempt on Trump in July.
Katherine Koretski reported from Phoenix; and Ben Kamisar from Washington, D.C.
