Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a marketing campaign cease at Pub 52 on January 15, 2024 in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa.

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a marketing campaign cease at Pub 52 on January 15, 2024 in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose hardline right-wing insurance policies in his state garnered a lot public consideration and made him an early favourite for the 2024 presidential race, suspended his bid for the Republican nomination on Sunday in a video posted on X, previously often called Twitter. Gov. DeSantis additionally endorsed the previous President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination.

“If there was anything I could do to produce a more favorable outcome — more campaign stops, more interviews — I would do it,” he mentioned. “But I can’t ask our volunteers to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory.”

DeSantis then proceeded to induce voters to help Trump, arguing that he’s “superior” to President Biden.

“He [Trump] has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form or warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”

DeSantis’ exit from the Republican presidential nomination discipline creates a path for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as the one conservative different to Trump’s candidacy left within the race. Trump and Haley will sq. off within the New GOP Hampshire main on Tuesday.

At an occasion of her personal in New Hampshire on Sunday, Haley introduced the information of DeSantis’ resolution to cheering supporters.

“He ran a great race,” she mentioned. “He’s been a good governor and we wish him well.”

But Haley shortly pivoted the main target again to the race on Tuesday. “It’s now one fella and one lady left,” she mentioned, referring to the race between herself and Trump for the GOP nomination. “All the fellas are out except for this one, and this comes down to what do you want.”

DeSantis got here in second place within the Iowa caucuses, in keeping with outcomes from The Associated Press, garnering 21.2% of votes, behind former President Donald Trump, who received 51.0% of the vote. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley positioned third, at 19.1%.

There have been actual questions on DeSantis’ marketing campaign after his distant second-place end in Iowa. He pledged to proceed and deal with South Carolina, however his marketing campaign and tremendous PAC supporting him, which had spent tens of hundreds of thousands supporting him, has spent nothing on marketing campaign advertisements since Iowa.

A balancing act that failed to provide outcomes

DeSantis’ major marketing campaign message was that he can be higher at delivering the identical sorts of insurance policies that Trump can be in favor of, as a result of he does not have the identical baggage that Trump carries from his quite a few indictments and federal prices. He vowed to rid the nation of “wokeism,” a time period he usually used to criticize liberal insurance policies, win the presidency by a large margin, and ship on points that Republicans care about — very like how he says he has in Florida.

“Donald Trump is running for his issues, Nikki Haley is running for her donors’ issues, I’m running for your issues, your family’s issues, and solely to turn this country around,” DeSantis mentioned in a video posted shortly earlier than the Iowa caucuses started on Jan. 15. “I’m the only one that’s beaten the Left on issue, after issue, after issue.”

DeSantis was elected to Congress in 2012, to symbolize Florida’s sixth district, and got here to nationwide focus lately — specifically, for a way he is ruled Florida. He grew to become a favourite amongst conservatives for his insurance policies within the state, starting from assaults on gender-affirming care, to banning diversity and equity initiatives in public colleges, resisting public well being measures throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and sending migrants who had crossed the border illegally to progressive states.

While DeSantis tried to hold his conservative document as governor, into his presidential marketing campaign, there have been two issues standing in his means: Trump, whose broad help amongst conservatives throughout the nation stays unmatched; and DeSantis himself.

From the beginning, the DeSantis marketing campaign was plagued with problems and personnel issues. DeSantis introduced his marketing campaign on a livestream with Elon Musk on X, previously often called Twitter, just for the occasion to be riddled with embarrassing technical malfunctions.

More just lately, a watchdog group filed a legal complaint concerning the construction of the Florida governor’s tremendous PAC, which had already gone by means of a collection of leadership resignations. A prime strategist within the tremendous PAC additionally resigned following a Washington Post piece that detailed the PAC’s inside troubles.

DeSantis appeared to determine robust momentum within the early contests within the nation, campaigning in all of Iowa’s 99 counties. He picked up the endorsement of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and evangelical Christian chief Bob Vander Plaats, who had a document of endorsing previous candidates that went on to win the Iowa GOP caucuses.

But after the caucuses within the Hawkeye state concluded, DeSantis split his focus between the first-in-the-nation main in New Hampshire, and the subsequent contest in South Carolina.

Toward the tip of his marketing campaign, DeSantis started to throw more durable jabs at Trump himself. During a go to to New Hampshire in December, DeSantis mentioned he thought Trump would not settle for the outcomes of the contests.

“If Trump loses, he will say it’s stolen no matter what, absolutely,” he told reporters. “He will try to delegitimize the results.”

NPR’s Domenico Montanaro contributed to this report.