With an entrance at 11:45 a.m., Kennedy began his speech with a chronology of his political history, dating back to his allegiance with the Democratic party. His explanation of his history with the party then delved into his criticisms of party leaders today, saying that the party has “departed so dramatically” from its origins as a party of labor and of the working class.

Kennedy spoke of how proud he was of his team and volunteers as they had collected millions of signatures to put him on the upcoming presidential ballot.

“Your accomplishments were regarded as impossible.” Kennedy said, “You carried me up that glass mountain. You pulled off a miracle. You achieved what all the pundits said could never be done. You have my deepest gratitude and I am never going to forget that.”

He emphasized that the work of his supporters would not go to waste, and that “in an honest system, [he] believe[s] [he] would’ve won the election.”

When announcing his withdrawal, he specified that voters in blue or red states could still vote for him, and he encouraged them to do so. He explained that his primary reason for withdrawing from the race was to avoid drawing votes away from former President Trump.

Kennedy affirmed that he believes former President Trump to be the best choice to lead the country in a time of conflict in Ukraine. He credits Trump with protecting key issues he posited are contributing to a greater crisis in the United States; free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children.”

When speaking of the former president, Kennedy emphasized that the media held an extreme bias against the former president and himself. He expressed that he believes the news cycle to be primarily beneficial to his Democratic counterparts, and that the system of media in the United States unjustly caters to Democrat issues, candidates, and voters.

On the topic of Vice President Harris, Kennedy remarked that Harris’s lack of unscripted public interviews is “profoundly undemocratic.” He likened the media attention surrounding Harris to a circus, remarking that he found a lack of concrete debates and interviews to be insulting to the democratic process.

During the final minutes of his press conference, Kennedy elected to address journalists directly.

“Representatives of those networks are in this room right now, and I’ll just take a moment to ask you to consider the many ways that your institutions have abdicated this really sacred responsibility, [the] duty of a free press to safeguard democracy, to challenge the party in power instead of maintaining that posture of fear….your institutions have made themselves government mouthpieces and stenographers for the organs of power,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy confirmed that despite his withdrawal from the swing states, he “will not allow efforts to go to waste,” and will continue to endorse peace, freedom, prosperity, and public health which he noted are concepts that motivated his campaign.