Robert F Kennedy Jr announces independent bid for president – latest

After Francis Suarez ended his campaign for president, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson bid him farewell.

“It was an honor to get to know @FrancisSuarez on the presidential campaign trail. He has a great story to tell and he has been a dynamic Mayor of Miami. I look forward to seeing big things for him in the future,” Mr Hutchinson wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Francis Suarez, the mayor of Miami dropped out of the Republican presidential race on 29 August a little more than two months after he announced his bid for the White House on 14 June.

In total, Mr Suarez’s campaign lasted 76 days.

As campaigns begin to take shape, here are the important name to know.

The 2024 Republican field has officially shrunk by one.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez officially suspended his campaign on Tuesday after failing to make last week’s debate in Milwaukee, the first matchup of the GOP candidates onstage. His suspension came a day after an NBC News report detailed two sharp dropoffs in campaign spending following the announcement of Mr Suarez’s exclusion from the debate and the subsequent event itself.

“While I have decided to suspend my campaign for President, my commitment to making this a better nation for every American remains,” Mr Suarez said in a lengthy statement released on Twitter.

NBC News first reported on Monday that the campaign of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has gone dark, both in terms of messaging and money spent, since last week’s GOP primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The second-youngest candidate in the race at 45, Mr Suarez had sought to build a brand as a representative of a new generation of Republican leadership.

While attending the Iowa State Fair on Monday, South Carolina senator and 2024 presidential candidate Tim Scott defended Donald Trump’s latest indictment after being confronted about it by a reporter.

“I’m just going to continue to say it as I see it, which is that we’ve seen the legal system being weaponised against political opponents,” Mr Scott said.

“That is un-American and unacceptable.

Eight Republican presidential candidates have met the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) new criteria to participate in the first GOP debate on 23 August.

Former president Donald Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina senator Tim Scott and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum and former vice president Mike Pence have all qualified.

All eight candidates have had at least 40,000 unique donors from 20+ states and/or territories contribute to their campaigns and maintained at least one per cent in two national polls and two early state polls.

Marianne Williamson, the longshot Democratic candidate seeking a bid for the White House, says she feels ignored by several political celebrities including Elon Musk and Joe Rogan.

While discussing her campaign with Bill Maher on his podcast Club Random, Ms Williamson said neither Mr Musk nor Mr Rogan have invited her on their respective media platforms despite allowing her opponent Robert F Kennedy Jr.

“Well, Joe Rogan, ask Joe Rogan to have me on because he hasn’t. He’s had Bobby but he won’t have me,” Ms Williamson said, reported first by Mediaite.

“I don’t understand it. He won’t have me on. And also Elon Musk who gave the Twitter spaces to Bobby and others. He said, ‘Any presidential candidate, I will give the Twitter spaces.’ And I twice raised my hand on Twitter and said I would love to do it and he won’t have me. I feel very invisibilized, Bill. Very erased,” Ms Williamson said.