Ron DeSantis endorses Donald Trump, drops out of presidential race

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Sunday that he is ending his bid for the White House after starting his campaign in May last year, as he fails to shake the popular support Donald Trump enjoys.

During his video message, Ron DeSantis — who has been a staunch critic of Donald Trump — also endorsed him for president.   

The 45-year-old was considered as a powerful voice against the former president's election campaign that he commenced in May last year. His online appearance at the beginning last year was marred by the glitches he encountered on the Twitter space — the platform now called X. 

The announcement came less than two days before the New Hampshire primary, where polls showed DeSantis far behind ex-president Trump and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.

"Now, following our second-place finish in Iowa, we’ve prayed and deliberated on the way forward," the Florida Governor said, adding that "if there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it." 

"But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources. We don't have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign," a one-time ally of Trump said during his video message on X.

“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance," he said, adding: "He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents."

The 77-year-old Trump secured a landslide victory in Iowa last Tuesday, with 51% of Republicans choosing the four-time indicted former president over DeSantis, who bagged 21%, and Haley 19%.

Never has any candidate lost the race after triumphing the first two states, and Trump would almost certainly declare the Republican nomination over with a victory in New Hampshire.

Haley had largely refrained from hitting out at Trump's many controversies surrounding his candidacy, but in the past week began questioning his mental acuity, making comparisons between the ex-president and the 81-year-old incumbent Democrat Joe Biden.