Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the race for the presidency, narrowing the field to just two potential Republican nominees.
He has now thrown his support behind former President Donald Trump.
In a video shared on X just before 3 p.m. on Jan. 21, the 45-year-old said that “this is America’s time for choosing.”
“We can choose to allow a border invasion or we can choose to stop it,” said DeSantis. “We can choose reckless borrowing or spending or we can choose to limit government and lower inflation. We can choose political indoctrination or we can choose classical education.”
“We launched this campaign to bring accountability to government, to regain sovereignty at our border, and to restore sanity to our society,” he continued. “Reversing the decline of this nation requires leadership that delivers big results for the people we are elected to serve.”
He said traveling to different states with his wife Casey has helped deliver a message of “hope” and stressed “decline is a choice” and Americans “can succeed again as a nation.”
“If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome – more campaign stops, more interviews – I would do it,” DeSantis continued. “But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.”
“I am proud to have delivered on 100% of my promises and I will not stop now,” he continued. “It is clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him.”
He said that despite their disagreements, Trump is “superior” to current President Joe Biden.
“He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear,” said the governor. He added that Nikki Haley represents “a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism.”
DeSantis canceled at least two scheduled interviews on Jan. 20 and removed all upcoming campaign events from his website, which sparked speculation that he was leaving the race. A former member of Congress, he placed second in the Iowa caucus with just over 21% of the vote. Former President Donald Trump earned 51% while former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley secured 19.1%.
The termination of the DeSantis campaign comes four days before the three Republican hopefuls were set to face off in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.
Trump’s campaign released a statement on Truth Social saying they are honored to have received DeSantis’s endorsement.
“It is now time for all Republicans to rally behind President Trump to defeat Crooked Joe Biden and end his disastrous presidency,” the statement continued. “Nikki Haley is the candidate of the globalists and Democrats who will do everything to stop the America First movement. From higher taxes, to decimating Social Security and Medicare, and to open borders, she represents the view of Democrats more than the views of Republicans. It is time to choose wisely.”
