Shock as Trump rival Ron DeSantis pulls out of race and backs Donald to win
DONALD Trump took a major step towards clinching the Republican presidential candidacy last night after his closest rival pulled out of the race and endorsed him.
Ron DeSantis, once seen as a favourite, threw his backing behind the former president days before party oters were due to go to the polls in New Hampshire.
The Florida governor finished in a distant second-place in Iowa’s primary election last week, taking just 21 per cent of the vote to Mr Trump’s 51 per cent.
In a five-minute-long video posted on X, formerly Twitter, Mr DeSantis said his campaign had ‘left it all out on the field’.
He told supporters: ‘We don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.’
It leaves former UN ambassador Nikki Haley as Mr Trump’s only rival for the Republican nomination.
Despite repeatedly bashing Mr Trump for refusing to debate and taking several hits from the ex-president – who called him ‘DeSanctimonious’ – Mr Santis decided to endorse his former rival.
‘It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,’ he said.
‘They watch his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare this day to attack him.
‘[Mr Trump] has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old
‘We don’t have a path to victory’
Republican guard of yesteryear – a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism – that Nikki Haley represents.’ The video announcement came ahead of this week’s New Hampshire Republican primary tomorrow, where Mr DeSantis was polling in single digits.
In his statement he said: ‘If there was anything I could do to produce a favourable 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.’
It appeared that Mr DeSantis would stay in the race until after South Carolina in hopes that Ms Haley would do poorly in her home state and drop out.
But he chose to exit before New Hampshire could weigh-in amid reports he was a ‘dead man walking’.
In hindsight the high point of his campaign was his re-election in November 2022 which he won by more than 20 points, the largest margin for any Florida governor in 40 years.
In the wake of the triumph, the Harvard-educated former US navy officer was anointed as Mr Trump’s successor after turning Florida into a MAGA [Make America Great Again] stronghold.
Mr DeSantis was touted as more effective than Mr Trump and won the admiration of his supporters for opposing Covid lockdowns, taking on Disney’s support for gay rights and banning books with LGBTQ themes. But his campaign struggled from its launch, in which he sidestepped a traditional prime time speech.
Instead it took place on X in a shambolic audio only event that was plagued by technical issues.
He irked some New Hampshire Republican officials in his campaign’s inaugural visit to the state by declining to take questions from voters, as is tradition there.
Uncomfortable interactions with voters in other states were caught on camera as well. He faced attacks from Mr Trump, who accused him of being unable to win re-election without his endorsement. Among the other nicknames that Mr Trump gave him was ‘Meatball Ron’, an apparent dig at his short and stout body type.
Another controversy that sparked ridicule of Mr DeSantis was the debate over whether he wears hidden lifts inside his boots to make him look taller than his reported 5ft 8in height.
In the subsequent weeks and months, Mr DeSantis struggled to connect with voters on a personal level under the unforgiving bright lights of the presidential stage.
More serious financial challenges emerged over the summer.
By the end of July, he had laid off nearly 40 employees in a move to cut roughly a third of his campaign payroll. It came shortly after public filings revealed he was burning through his campaign coffers at an unsustainable rate.
Some looking for an alternative to Mr Trump backed Ms Haley, a South Carolina governor popular with many Republican donors, independent voters and the so-called ‘Never Trump’ crowd.
The outcome in New Hampshire, could have been the final straw for Mr DeSantis. Polls taken before he quit showed him in third with just 6 per cent for the vote.
Ms Haley was in second with 39 per cent while Mr Trump was in first with 50 per cent.