Ron DeSantis Drops Out Of 2024 Race And Endorses Donald Trump
21.01.2024 - 20:35
/ deadline.com
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, ending a faltering bid where he tried to cast himself as a Trump-like candidate in a race where so much of the Republican base ended up preferring the real thing.
In a videotaped message, DeSantis said that he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump.
“It is clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said.
“While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, 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 gets my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear.”
DeSantis placed a distant second to Trump in Iowa last week, but he was far behind the former president and Nikki Haley in recent polls of New Hampshire voters. Instead, DeSantis had spent a good chunk of the last week in South Carolina, but he faced longshot prospects there, too. The superPAC supporting his candidacy, Never Back Down, laid off staffers after the Iowa caucuses.
DeSantis started last year as a prospective candidate who was giving Trump a serious challenge for the nomination. Coming off a landslide re-election bid as Florida governor, DeSantis had trumpeted his role in the culture wars, including taking on The Walt Disney Co. as “woke,” even though it was one of the largest employers in the state.
But Trump began to consolidate support as he faced multiple criminal indictments, charactering himself as under attack from the left. Save for a swipe at Trump for his Stormy Daniels hush money case,