Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a marketing campaign occasion on the Chrome Horse Saloon on January 14, 2024 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday, two days earlier than the New Hampshire main.
“If there was something I may do to supply a good final result — extra marketing campaign stops, extra interviews — I might do it, however I am unable to ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their assets if we do not have a transparent path to victory,” DeSantis mentioned in a Sunday social media post. “Accordingly, I’m immediately suspending my marketing campaign.”
“Trump is superior to the present incumbent Joe Biden. That is evident,” DeSantis mentioned. “I signed a pledge to assist the Republican nominee and I’ll honor that pledge. He has my endorsement as a result of we will not return to the outdated Republican Guard of yesteryear, a repackaged type of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”
Minutes after he introduced his exit from the 2024 race, DeSantis cancelled a marketing campaign occasion he had scheduled in New Hampshire. The marketing campaign mentioned that he would as an alternative stay in Tallahassee, Florida.
Despite claiming a victory on the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15 the place he edged out former Haley for second place, DeSantis has severely lagged his opponents in New Hampshire.
DeSantis was polling at 6% within the Granite State, in comparison with Trump’s 50% and Haley’s 39%, in keeping with a CNN/University of New Hampshire ballot carried out between Jan. 16 and 19.
In response to DeSantis’ announcement, Haley mentioned the GOP main contest is now a “two individual race.”
Since Iowa, the DeSantis marketing campaign has seemed to be winding down. The pro-DeSantis tremendous PAC, Never Back Down, laid off staff earlier this week and DeSantis canceled a number of media appearances he had scheduled Sunday.
DeSantis’ exit marks the tip of a marketing campaign that originally confirmed promise however has been rife with internal drama and strategic blunders. Reports of infighting seasoned almost the complete timeline of the DeSantis marketing campaign and workers have been usually quoted as having misplaced religion within the marketing campaign properly earlier than it ended.
Starting Monday, the Florida governor will return to his day job the place he has confronted criticism for neglecting his duties in pursuit of the presidency.
“Our governor roams the political world (Florida be damned) searching for the presidential nomination,” a Florida resident wrote within the Sarasota Herald-Tribune earlier in January.
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