Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Sunday that he would be ending his campaign for the Republican presidential primary and is instead endorsing Donald Trump. The announcement comes ahead of the New Hampshire primary results.
In a video message shared to X, formerly Twitter, DeSantis said it's “clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance.”
“I've 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,” DeSantis said. “I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge.”
DeSantis ending his bid for president comes just days after the 45-year-old governor came in second place behind Trump in the Iowa caucuses. The twice-impeached president won with 51% of the vote, while DeSantis squeezed ahead of Nikki Haley with 21% to her 19%. Iowa residents turned out in low numbers due to dangerous weather conditions but still managed to help Trump break a record for the largest margin of victory.
“[Trump] 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 said. “The days of putting Americans last, of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology, are over.”
DeSantis continued: “While this campaign has ended, the mission continues.”
The Republican governor officially launched his campaign for president in May 2023 during a glitchy livestream on X with the company's CEO Elon Musk. DeSantis was once an ally of Trump during the former president's term, but then turned into a considerable Trump opponent — who dubbed the nickname “Ron DeSanctimonious."
DeSantis gained notoriety for his continued attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, public education of equity and inclusion, abortion access, and his battle against one of Florida's largest employers, Disney. The governor has continuously waged a war against “wokeness," and was a vocal opponent of life-saving measures during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump's campaign team released a statement following DeSantis's move to drop out of the race, saying that they are “honored by the endorsement" from the Florida governor. “It is now time for all Republicans to rally behind President Trump to defeat crooked Joe Biden and end his disastrous presidency," the statement read.
