Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has suspended his presidential campaign, six days after finishing a distant second to former President Trump in the Iowa Caucuses.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said. “…He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yester year, a repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”
DeSantis made his announcement Sunday afternoon in a video posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. With the New Hampshire Primary coming up on Tuesday, DeSantis said he could not ask his supporters to volunteer their time and money if there was not “a clear path to victory.”
A month ago, DeSantis was predicting he’d win the Iowa Caucuses. DeSantis and political action committees supporting his campaign spent $35 million in Iowa and he visited each of Iowa’s 99 counties. He received 23,420 straw poll votes compared to the 56,260 caucus-goers who backed Trump.
“Nobody worked harder and we left it all out on the field,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis, in announcing his endorsement of Trump, mentioned he had signed a pledge to honor the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. Governor Kim Reynolds, who endorsed DeSantis in November, has also been saying she’ll back Trump if he’s the nominee.
“I supported (Trump) in ’16. I supported him in ’20. I wish he would have won,” Reynolds said Friday on “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS. “…I can tell you without hesitation whoever our nominee is, I’m going to get behind them because this country is in trouble.”
Governor Reynolds issued a statement on X late Sunday afternoon. “It was an honor to support @RonDeSantis. His record as Governor of Florida is phenomenal, and I know he will continue to be an effective leader for years to come.”
(This post was updated at 4:15 p.m. with additional information.)