Ron DeSantis has severely lagged behind Donald Trump and Nikki Haley in New Hampshire.
CNBC
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday, two days before the New Hampshire primary.
“If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome — more campaign stops, more interviews — I would do it, but I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory,” DeSantis said in a Sunday social media post. “Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.”
“Trump is superior to the current incumbent Joe Biden. That is clear,” DeSantis said. “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, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”
The Trump campaign said in a Sunday statement it was “honored” to receive DeSantis’ endorsement, along with “so many other former presidential candidates.”
DeSantis joins a growing list of defunct 2024 candidates, like North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who endorsed Trump after suspending their campaigns.
At a New Hampshire rally Sunday evening, Trump congratulated Ron for bowing out and giving him his endorsement.
“As you know, he left the campaign trail today at 3 p.m. and in so doing, he was very gracious and he endorsed me, so I appreciate that,” Trump said. “I also look forward to working with Ron and everybody else to defeat crooked Joe Biden.”
I appreciate that. And I also look forward to working with Ron and everybody else to defeat crooked Joe Biden.
Minutes after he announced his exit from the 2024 race, DeSantis canceled a campaign event he had scheduled in New Hampshire. The campaign said that he would instead remain in Tallahassee, Florida.
Despite claiming a victory at the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15 where he edged out former Haley for second place, DeSantis has severely lagged his opponents in New Hampshire.
DeSantis was polling at 6% in the Granite State, compared to Trump’s 50% and Haley’s 39%, according to a CNN/University of New Hampshire poll conducted between Jan. 16 and 19.
In response to DeSantis’ announcement, Haley said the GOP primary contest is now a “two-person race.”
Since Iowa, the DeSantis campaign has appeared to be winding down. The pro-DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, laid off staff earlier this week and DeSantis canceled several media appearances he had scheduled Sunday.
