Ron DeSantis drops out of White House race: Florida governor ends run, backs TRUMP in stunning move BEFORE New Hampshire primary
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has released a video suspending his presidential bid
- Also supported Trump despite their back and forth attacks during the campaign
- Comes two days before the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 23
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was stunned when he ended his 2024 presidential primary on Sunday and endorsed Donald Trump.
It comes just two days before the New Hampshire primary, and after two terrible polls showed DeSantis with just 6 percent support in the nation's first primary.
“We don't have a clear path to victory,” DeSantis said in the video announcing his exit from the race. “Accordingly, I am suspending my campaign today.”
Now the Republican primaries are a two-way race, with only former President Trump and his former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley vying for the nomination.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign on Sunday. Pictured: DeSantis during a campaign stop in Nashua, New Hampshire on January 19
Despite repeatedly criticizing Trump for refusing to debate in the primaries and receiving several blows from the ex-president, the governor decided to support 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 see his presidency stymied by brutal resistance, and they see Democrats today using the law to attack him.”
He added: “Trump is superior to current incumbent Joe Biden. That is obvious.'
“I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will keep that pledge.”
The pledge in question is what the Republican National Committee (RNC) required all candidates to sign, pledging to support the eventual nominee if they wanted to participate in their four primary debates last year. Trump never signed the pledge and refused to appear at the debates.
During the campaign, Trump called DeSantis a “traitor” for deciding to run for president in 2024 after the former president's support helped him win the Republican nomination for governor in Florida in 2018.
Trump endorsed DeSantis in his 2018 bid for governor in Florida, using his coattails to win him the Republican nomination and ultimately victory
DeSantis' campaign on Sunday vehemently denied to DailyMail.com any rumors that might surface about DeSantis' plans to quit — but just hours later the governor released a video on X, formerly Twitter, ending his bid.
“No one worked harder, and we left it all on the field,” DeSantis said in a four-and-a-half video about his departure from the campaign. “Now that we have finished second in Iowa, we have been praying and deliberating about the path forward.”
“If I could do anything to achieve a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would,” he continued. “But I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources.”
It looked like DeSantis would stay in the race until after South Carolina, hoping Haley would do poorly in her home state and drop out.
But he instead chose to leave before New Hampshire could weigh in on Tuesday.
'[Trump] has my support because we cannot go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear – a repackaged form of reheated corporatism – that Nikki Haley represents,” he said in a criticism of the former president's sole remaining Republican nominee.