Ron DeSantis withdraws from race, backs Trump for presidency
January 21, 2024
US Republican Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis said Sunday that he would suspend his campaign for his party's presidential nomination in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, leaving former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley as the only GOP challenger to front-runner Donald Trump.
The announcement comes after the Iowa caucus primary last week and on the eve of the New Hampshire presidential primary that is set to take place on Tuesday, where DeSantis trailed both former President Trump and Haley.
What DeSantis said
The 45-year-old governor said of his team, "Nobody worked harder, and we left it all out on the field."
But after spending tens of millions of dollars in Iowa and coming up nearly 30 points shy of Trump in a disappointing second-place finish in the state's caucuses, he said he could not "ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory."
DeSantis has endorsed Trump — who has incessently attacked and insulted the Florida politician for being disloyal — in the race for the White House. "He has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear or [a] repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents," he said.
How Haley reacted
"Boy are things changing fast," said Haley before she announced DeSantis' departure from the race as she campaigned in New Hampshire.
Haley claims she has a path forward because many Americans don't want another Trump-Biden rematch and are looking for new, younger leadership.
"He [DeSantis] ran a great race, he's been a good governor and we wish him well," Haley told cheering supporters. "There's now one fella and one lady left."
Two other Republican rivals to Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, also both dropped out of contention and endorsed the former president earlier in the week.
Trump has held a commanding lead over the field since the campaign began despite facing a mountain of civil and criminal indictments for activities related to rape, finacial fraud, election finance fraud, election interference and insurrection.
Joe Biden and his team also sought to capitalize on the news late on Sunday, releasing video footage of recent comments from Haley and Trump in which Haley criticizes Trump for a number of factual errors and repeatedly says how apparently "he got confused."
DeSantis' star has been fading for weeks
DeSantis, a Harvard-educated lawyer and former US representative with a military background, was touted ahead of the 2024 presidential race as a potentially viable challenger to Trump from the right flank of the Republican Party.
He emerged as Florida governor in the 2018 midterms with Trump's backing, and often sought to emulate the then-president earlier in his career.
Governing Florida, he leaned into culturally charged issues like abortion, gender and race, passing controversial bills outlawing the teaching of certain aspects of US history having to do with slavery, for instance, or alternate sexualities.
His sizable war chest, coupled with his resounding re-election in 2022 — in a state still deemed fairly strategically important for Republicans, if to a diminishing degree — made him appear to be a potential threat to Trump.
New Hampshire: Haley's only stand?
New Hampshire is now shaping up to be Haley's one and only chance to defeat Trump, her third try and now the first time the vote will not be split between three or more serious candidates.
The Trump campaign wasted no time warning her to watch her back. "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 on Sunday.
"Option A: Nikki Haley drops out, unites behind President Trump, and commits to defeating Joe Biden. Option B: Nikki Haley prepares to be absolutely DEMOLISHED and EMBARRASSED in her home state of South Carolina [on February 24].
"Choose wisely," the message concluded.
Trump, who appointed Haley as UN ambassador in 2017, has criticized her for having the temerity to run against him, calling her disloyal.
Trump has regularly attacked Haley as a "globalist" and recently went further by arguing she was not a US citizen because her immigrant parents were not US citizens at the time of her birth in South Carolina.
Known as "birtherism," this tactic was first used by Trump against former President Barack Obama — claiming he was a Kenyan-born Muslim — before using it on GOP rival Ted Cruz of Texas and Vice President Kamala Harris of California.
Such claims are untrue, since the US has a birthright-based citizenship system.
js/jcg, msh (AP, Reuters)