Manchester, New Hampshire: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped his ambitious dream to become US president, announcing that he would suspend his campaign to endorse Donald Trump.
Days after his poor performance in the Iowa caucuses, DeSantis – who was once regarded as the future of the Republican Party – has ended his bid for the nomination, making this week’s New Hampshire primaries a two-person race between the former president and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.
Ron DeSantis in Iowa.Credit: Bloomberg
“Trump is superior to the current incumbent Joe Biden. That is clear,” he said in a social media video posted on Sunday (local time).
“I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honour that pledge as 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 days of putting Americans last, of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology are over.”
The announcement sent shock waves through the political world, as DeSantis was widely expected to stay in the race – at least until the after the South Carolina primaries in February.
He had ploughed most of his campaign funds into winning Iowa, hoping it would build momentum for the next round of primary races – and, eventually, the party’s nomination to run for the White House.
But one year after Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post ran a front-page headline branding DeSantis “DeFuture” of the Republican Party, the former Trump ally-turned-rival found himself fighting to stay in the race as momentum for Haley surged and the former president remained so dominant.
A poll released on Sunday showed Trump widening his lead in the state to once again secure his party’s nomination.
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