"I'm here to declare himself an independent candidate for president of the United States. That's not all. I'm here to join you in making a new declaration of independence for our entire nation. We declare independence from the corporations that have hijacked our government. And we declare independence from Wall Street, from Big Tech, from Big Pharma, from Big Ag, from the military contractors and their lobbyists. And we declare independence from the cynical elites who betray our hope and who amplify our divisions. And finally, we declare independence from the two political parties," Kennedy told a crowd of supporters at Philadelphia's Independence Mall this afternoon. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to announce Monday afternoon in Philadelphia that he will abandon his Democratic bid for president and run as an independent or third-party candidate. 

Kennedy's campaign has teased this announcement since the beginning of the month. We noted on Oct. 1, "RFK Jr. Could Make Announcement On Run As Independent On Oct. 9." 

On Sunday, Kennedy wrote on X: "I'm ready for tomorrow, are you? Catch my livestream from 12-2 pm." Attached to the post was a video of the 69-year-old running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (try that Biden), reenacting a scene from the 1976 film Rocky. 

Kennedy, who announced earlier this year he was running against 80-year-old Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, has been polling around 14% in the latest Reuters/Ipsos survey, behind Trump at 40% and Biden at 38%. 

On Kennedy's campaign website, his team stated, "Kennedy will lay out a path to the White House that involves a major shift in American politics. We invite you to witness history in the making, at the very spot where our founding fathers launched this nation in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. On Monday, we come together again to reset the course of our nation."