Governor of the US state of Florida, Ron DeSantis has called it quits on his 2024 Republican presidential campaign and endorsed rival Donald Trump after losing heavily in the Iowa caucuses.
DeSantis, once the leading Republican rival to Trump, made the announcement in a video posted to social media on Sunday.
He made the announcement less than 48 hours until voting in New Hampshire’s primary in which polls showed him far behind frontrunner Trump and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” the 45-year-old said in the video posted on X.
The Florida Governor is now backing Trump in the upcoming election scheduled for November and attacked attack Haley.
“He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear or a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” he added.
Trump thanked “gracious” DeSantis for his endorsement.
“Very honored to have his endorsement,” Trump told Fox News Digital, adding, “I look forward to working together with him to beat Joe Biden, who is the worst and most corrupt president in the history of our country.”
Last week, Trump had urged his two main rivals from the Republican Party DeSantis and Haley, to drop out of race ahead of New Hampshire’s primary.
Trump continued to hit on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, saying Haley isn’t suited to be the Republican nominee, dismissing her as “the candidate of the globalists and Democrats.”
Haley returned fire, insisting she is the candidate that is best positioned to beat the Republican’s rival in this year’s election, who will likely be the 82-year-old Democratic incumbent President Biden. Haley warned that the United States is “not a country of coronations.”
Trump stormed to victory in Iowa last Tuesday, with 51 percent of Republican voters choosing the twice-impeached former president over DeSantis, who gained only 21 percent and Haley at 19 percent.
