DeSantis Gives Up, Throws His Support to Trump

This file has been updated with Trump and Haley reaction.
Two days before the nation's first primary, Ron DeSantis abandoned his struggling Republican presidential campaign and endorsed the front-runner. "It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance," the Florida governor said in a video posted Sunday on X announcing the suspension. "If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it," DeSantis said, per NBC News. "But I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources. We don't have a clear path to victory."

DeSantis began his campaign as a candidate many Republicans saw as a viable challenger to Trump after winning a landslide reelection as governor while Trump's endorsements fared poorly in the 2022 midterms. But polls showed DeSantis fading, per the Washington Post, even before he officially entered the race in a problematic live chat on X. He had been scheduled to attend an event Sunday afternoon in New Hampshire, which votes Tuesday, but instead flew home to Florida late Saturday after appearing in South Carolina, per the New York Times. "While this campaign has ended, the mission continues," DeSantis said in his video announcement.

Trump's campaign issued a statement saying "we are honored" by the endorsement from DeSantis, per NBC News, and attacking his remaining competitor for the GOP nomination. "Nikki Haley is the candidate of the globalists and Democrats who will do everything to stop the America First movement," it added. Haley told supporters in New Hampshire that Desantis "ran a great race," per the Times. "He's been a good governor. And we wish him well. Having said that, it's now one fella and one lady left," she said. (GOP professionals say DeSantis' campaign was historically awful.)