The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has officially dropped his Republican campaign for president on Sunday on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, while also endorsing his rival Donald Trump.
DeSantis announced his DeSantis announced his decision in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter. “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis announced, as well as, “He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” and also stating, “Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear.”
When Ron DeSantis initially entered the 2024 presidential election, early primary polls even demonstrated he might be able to possibly take on Trump. What’s more, DeSantis and his allies had amassed a huge political fortune exceeding 130 million dollars, while DeSantis also held a significant legislative record on many issues considered important to conservatives, such as abortion.
However, despite such advantages, DeSantis still severely struggled in the presidential primaries. He ended up losing in the Iowa caucuses by 30 percentage points to Trump.
Trump would later, despite months of taunting DeSantis, applaud his former rival turned to supporter. “I just want to thank Ron and congratulate him on doing a very good job,” Trump said. “He was very gracious, and he endorsed me. I appreciate that, and I also look forward to working with Ron.”
Following DeSantis’s departure from the presidential race, DeSantis’s team joined with Trump in criticizing and attacking Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor running for president along with Trump.
Following the news, Democrats celebrated on Sunday. “As Democrats, we’ve been shouting from the rooftops that his strategy of waging culture wars on the backs of hardworking Floridians just to further his own ambitions was wrong for the state & would be disastrous for the nation,” explained Fentrice Driskell, the lead Democrat in the Florida state legislature on X.
Written by Kevin Han
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