Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday reportedly forcefully denied speculation that he is preparing a presidential run in 2028, reaffirming his commitment to President Donald J. Trump and to the health reform mission the two men share.
“Let me be clear: I am not running for president in 2028. My loyalty is to President Trump and the mission we’ve started,” Kennedy wrote on the social media platform X, pushing back on rumors amplified by right-wing activist Laura Loomer and fueled by moves from Kennedy’s Super PAC.
Kennedy’s remarks come after months of conjecture from political operatives and commentators. Once a 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, Kennedy became an independent before ultimately suspending his campaign and endorsing Mr. Trump — a strategic alignment that drew in many of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) followers.
In his statement, Kennedy said his focus remains on a top MAHA priority: ending what he calls the nation’s “chronic disease epidemic.”
He credited Mr. Trump with enabling him to pursue that cause from inside the administration. “The president has made himself the answer to my 20-year prayer that God would put me in a position to end the chronic disease epidemic — and that’s exactly what my team and I will do until the day he leaves office,” Kennedy wrote.
The speculation has been compounded by public criticism of Kennedy’s top aide, Stefanie Spear.
Loomer, who has successfully pressured the administration to remove officials she deems insufficiently loyal to the president, has accused Spear of quietly preparing for a Kennedy 2028 bid.
Kennedy defended Spear, who, like her boss, came from an environmentally focused Democratic background before joining the Trump coalition in 2024.
Spear previously worked alongside Kennedy at the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense and later served as his press secretary during his presidential campaign.
Her influence has reportedly been a point of suspicion among some in the MAGA movement since Kennedy’s appointment to lead HHS.
Tony Lyons, head of the Kennedy-supporting MAHA PAC, dismissed the notion of a 2028 run entirely. “The story that Secretary Kennedy was running for president was a made up story. There’s no truth to it whatsoever,” Lyons said. He noted that Kennedy had “never gave any indication” of such plans and reiterated the secretary’s long-standing desire to take on entrenched health interests.
“He prayed for 20 years to have the opportunity that President Trump has given him,” Lyons said. “He is disrupting an entrenched and deeply corrupt system that has allowed a small group of companies to make incredible profits from products that make Americans sick. Those companies are spending millions to attack Secretary Kennedy and his incredible team to protect their ill-gotten gains.”
For Kennedy, the message was unequivocal: the fight against what he sees as a profit-driven health establishment will continue — not from a future presidential campaign, but from within the Trump administration.
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