Ron DeSantis ends struggling presidential bid and endorses Donald Trump
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his Republican presidential marketing campaign on Sunday, ending his 2024 White House bid simply earlier than the New Hampshire major whereas endorsing his bitter rival Donald Trump.
The timing of DeSantis’ announcement escalates the strain on former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, as the one main candidate left within the Republican nomination struggle, to win New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation major on Tuesday. Trump’s foes within the GOP lastly have the one-on-one contest they’ve hunted for months.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis mentioned in a video saying his determination to drop out of the race which he posted on X.
DeSantis additionally jabbed Haley, lengthy his closest competitors for second place within the major race, saying Republicans “can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”
Haley was campaigning in Seabrook, New Hampshire, when DeSantis introduced his determination.
“He ran a great race, he’s been a good governor, and we wish him well,” she advised a room filled with supporters and media. “Having mentioned that, it’s now one fella and one girl left.“
DeSantis’ determination, whereas maybe not shocking given his 30-point blowout loss final week in Iowa, marks the tip of a unprecedented decline for a high-profile governor as soon as considered a reliable menace to Trump’s supremacy within the Republican Party.
He entered the 2024 presidential contest with main benefits in his quest to tackle Trump, and early major polls steered DeSantis was in a robust place to do exactly that. He and his allies amassed a political fortune properly in extra of $130 million, and he boasted a big legislative document on points vital to many conservatives, like abortion and the instructing of race and gender points in faculties.
Such benefits didn’t survive the truth of presidential politics in 2024. From a high-profile announcement that was stricken by technical glitches to fixed upheavals to his workers and marketing campaign technique, DeSantis struggled to search out his footing within the major. He misplaced the Iowa caucuses — which he had vowed to win — by 30 proportion factors to Trump.
DeSantis’ allies mentioned that personal discussions started shortly after Iowa to resolve the right way to bow out of the race gracefully. They finally determined that he wanted to endorse Trump, regardless of the deeply private feud between them.
“While I’ve had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear,” mentioned DeSantis, who’s in his second and remaining time period as Florida’s governor, which ends in January 2027.
The endorsement was a surprising tail-between-his-legs second for DeSantis, whom Trump has mercilessly and relentlessly taunted in deeply private phrases for the higher a part of a yr now.
For Trump, whose group contains many former DeSantis staffers, the assaults have usually felt extra like sport than political technique. Trump and his aides have blasted the governor as disloyal for operating within the first place, mocked his consuming habits and his persona and accused him of sporting excessive heels to spice up his top.
DeSantis’ group joined Trump in attacking Haley as news of his departure rippled throughout the political panorama. Some doubt Haley, who was seen as splitting Republican votes and stopping a head-to-head match up between Trump, would profit from DeSantis’ determination.
“She will not be the nominee,” key DeSantis supporter Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, advised AP. “She will not be the president of the United States.”
Trump had already shifted his focus to Haley in latest weeks, however minutes after DeSantis’ announcement, the previous president’s marketing campaign launched a brand new memo highlighting the strain on Haley to win New Hampshire.
“Now that we are a mere 48 hours from the primary, the tone has shifted mightily. We see it, you see it, but make no mistake, if Nikki Haley loses in New Hampshire — there are only two options,” wrote senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles.
“Option A: Nikki Haley drops out, unites behind President Trump, and commits to defeating Joe Biden,” they wrote. “Option B: Nikki Haley prepares to be absolutely DEMOLISHED and EMBARASSED in her home state of South Carolina,” which votes on Feb. 24.
“Now, for some important advice,” they continued. “Choose wisely.”
