Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Sunday that he was suspending his presidential campaign and endorsing former President Donald Trump.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Trump handily won the Iowa caucus by a significant margin, leaving contenders like DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at a crossroads.
“If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable 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 if we don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign,” said DeSantis, according to CNN.
DeSantis’ departure from the campaign trail follows that of businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, leaving Haley as the only high-profile candidate challenging the former president for the Republican nomination, at least as of Sunday afternoon.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” De Santis said, per NBC News.
“He has 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,” he added.
Right-leaning radio commentator and DeSantis supporter Steve Deace told CNN earlier this month that DeSantis was facing an uphill climb.
“DeSantis has run the playbook to a T. It’s just as simple as this: when they started indicting Donald Trump, people weren’t ready to move on from him. And for DeSantis, it wasn’t quite his time,” Deace said.
The Florida governor seemed to agree with this observation, telling CBN broadcaster David Brody that Trump’s indictment essentially “distorted” the primary by helping the former president.