Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign on Sunday (22), ending his candidacy for the White House just before the New Hampshire primaries, scheduled for this Tuesday, January 23.
The decision leaves Trump and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as the main remaining candidates in the race. This is the scenario that Trump’s enemies within the Republican Party have long sought as a way to stop the former president who has so far dominated the presidential race.
DeSantis is not part of this group and endorsed Trump during the announcement of his campaign suspension.
“It is clear to me that the majority of Republican voters in the primaries want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said in a video. “I signed a commitment to support the Republican candidate and I will honor that commitment. He has my support because we cannot go back to the old Republican establishment of the past, a rehashed form of corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” he continued.
DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential race with significant advantages in his attempt to surpass Trump. Early primary polls suggested that DeSantis was in a strong position. He managed to raise campaign funds exceeding $130 million and boasted a significant legislative record on key issues for many conservatives, such as abortion and the teaching of racial and gender issues in public schools.
Such advantages did not survive the reality of presidential politics in 2024. DeSantis struggled to find his footing in the primaries. He lost the Iowa primaries – which he had claimed he would win – by 30 percentage points to Trump.
And now, what happens in the race?
The exit of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis from the Republican presidential race puts Haley in a head-to-head confrontation with Donald Trump. But will she be an obstacle to the former president’s march toward his third consecutive nomination by the Republican Party?
This Tuesday, the New Hampshire primaries will be an excellent barometer for this contest. Trump won the primaries in this state the last two times he contested. This time, he leads the polling with 52%, while Haley has 34%, according to a poll by The Washington Post. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appears with 8% of the votes, as the poll was completed before DeSantis announced he was suspending his campaign.
Source: AP, CNN, and Washington Post