Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspends campaign, endorses Trump for president

by Alex Caldwell

Photo: Alamy

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has officially dropped out of the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, instead endorsing President Donald J. Trump.

DeSantis announced his decision in a video posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, stating that his campaign no longer has a “clear path to victory.”

“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” said DeSantis.

“They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using law-fare to this day to attack him. 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.”

Citing his previous promise to support the Republican nominee, DeSantis said he would “honor that pledge” and support Trump over the “old Republican guard of ‘yester-year'” personified by what he called the “warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”

“The days of putting Americans last, of cow-towing the large corporations, of caving to woke ideology are over,” he said.

DeSantis announced his candidacy in May 2023, painting himself as an alternative candidate to President Donald Trump.

Early primary polling indicated the governor had a decent chance of winning the 2024 Republican nomination. Combined with a $100 million campaign war chest, according to Associated Press, his campaign could have hit the ground running before he even announced his bid.

However, DeSantis’s campaign was seemingly doomed from its start. From an announcement filled with glitches, campaign staffing issues, and almost daily pushback from President Trump, support for the governor decreased nearly every day after his official launch.

DeSantis also finished a distant second place in the Iowa caucus, where he lost by roughly 30 points to President Trump and narrowly edged out former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley.

Now, DeSantis’s exit essentially places Trump and Haley in a head-to-head race two days before the New Hampshire primary, where the president is expected to win by a wide margin.

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