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DeSantis bows out, endorses Trump
Florida governor Ron DeSantis drops out of the race for the Republican nomination for US President, endorsing Donald Trump. It's now a direct contest between Trump and Nikki Haley ahead of the New Hampshire primary. DeSantis's campaign struggled due to poor management and messaging, while Trump's base remains strong. Haley hopes to consolidate the anti-Trump vote but polls suggest Trump is ahead. A decisive Trump win in New Hampshire will likely secure him the nomination. He will face President Joe Biden in the general election.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race to become the Republican nominee for US President on Sunday after coming a distant second in the Iowa caucus, acknowledging that he didn’t have a pathway to the nomination and endorsing the candidacy of Donald Trump, his patron-turned-rival-turned-leader.
His decision converts what was a crowded Republican field into a direct contest between Trump, the clear front runner, and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley ahead of the New Hampshire primary battle on Tuesday.
In a statement, DeSantis said, “I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.”
He said that while he had disagreements with the former president, Trump was “superior” to President Joe Biden.
“I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honour that pledge. He has my endorsement, because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear or repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” DeSantis added.
The governor was seen as a likely Republican nominee after he swept his state’s elections in November 2022 even as Trump-backed candidates lost in Senate races and Republicans only managed a narrow win in the House nationally in the midterm. Trump’s legal challenges too were then seen as potentially insurmountable, a misreading as the indictments against him have only consolidated his base and made little difference in the internal party race.
For his part, DeSantis faltered with a poorly managed campaign, ultra-conservative messaging, limited public speaking skills, and a generally less than charismatic demeanour.
DeSantis’s campaign failed to distinguish itself from Trump’s on core concerns that mattered to the Republican base, which then felt that Trump himself was best positioned to implement Trumpism. On the other side of the political flank, DeSantis’s messaging alienated independent voters or those disillusioned with Democrats but sceptical of Trump, a constituency that has helped keep Haley in the race.
DeSantis also decided to invest almost his entire political capital and resources in Iowa, where only registered Republicans vote, but failure there made his campaign unviable in the next state, New Hampshire, where independents are allowed to vote as well. It is here that Haley hopes to consolidate the anti-Trump vote to spring a surprise, but all recent polls suggest that Trump remains comfortably ahead in the race.
DeSantis’s core vote, while limited, is also more likely to go with Trump. If Haley does cause an upset, or comes a close second, and decides to stick on, the next big battle between the two candidates will take place in her home state of South Carolina, where too Trump leads at the moment.
Responding to DeSantis’s decision, Haley, who has been on an extensive outreach in New Hampshire but primarily in smaller groups, said, “It’s now one fella and one lady left. For now, I’ll leave you with this: May the best woman win.”
Trump, who is also in New Hampshire and addressing much bigger meetings, had mocked the governor as Ron “DeSanctimonious”, termed him ungrateful, and dismissed his campaign. On Sunday, however, Trump said he was honoured by the endorsement and declared he was retiring the barb — DeSanctimonious — that he used for his ex-rival-turned-supporter.
A decisive Trump win on Tuesday is likely to lock him in as the Republican nominee, though the formal nomination will happen at the party convention later this summer. In that case, Trump will face Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee who faces limited challenge internally given his status as the incumbent, even though his ratings have dropped in recent months.
