Donald Trump said he was “honored” to have the support of Ron DeSantis in the Republican presidential race after the Florida governor made the shocking decision to quit.
The former president said he now looks forward to working with the former rival to defeat Joe Biden in November and again called on Republicans to unite behind him.
During a trip to his campaign headquarters in New Hampshire, he also said he would retire the nickname “DeSanctimonious,” which he frequently used in the fight for the White House.
After his landslide victory in Iowa, Trump enters the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday with a commanding lead over Nikki Haley.
Now he has one of the country's top Republican officials on his side, even as he has been widely mocked and targeted with nicknames like “Meatball.”
Donald Trump said he was “honored” to have the support of Ron DeSantis in the Republican presidential race after the Florida governor made the shocking decision to quit
Trump supported DeSantis in his bid for Florida governor in 2018, using his coattails to secure him the Republican nomination and eventual victory
“With only days remaining until President Donald J. Trump’s victory in New Hampshire, we are honored by the support of Governor Ron DeSantis and so many other former presidential candidates,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.
“Now is the time for all Republicans to rally behind President Trump to defeat Crooked Joe Biden and end his disastrous presidency.”
“Nikki Haley is the globalist and Democratic candidate who will do anything to stop the America First movement.” From higher taxes to cutting Social Security and Medicare to opening borders, she is more likely to represent Democratic views than that of the Republicans.
“It’s time to choose wisely.”
DeSantis, widely viewed as the future of the Republican Party and initially the favorite to unseat Trump, announced in a surprise video announcement Sunday afternoon that he was suspending his campaign.
Increasing speculation followed that donors were leaving, and his campaign struggled to find a way to offset Trump's huge lead in the polls.
During a trip to his campaign headquarters in New Hampshire, he also said he would retire the nickname “DeSanctimonious,” which he frequently used in the fight for the White House
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign on Sunday. Pictured: DeSantis at a campaign stop in Nashua, New Hampshire on January 19th
DeSantis finished second in the Iowa caucuses and largely avoided the New Hampshire campaign so he could focus on South Carolina – the home state of 2024 candidate Nikki Haley.
But the signs were clear as the campaign fired half its staff, major donors grew increasingly frustrated with his war on woke, and top politicians were at each other's throats.
DeSantis took a cue from Winston Churchill in his farewell video, calling Haley a “repackaged form of rehashed corporatism.”
His final warning was to Republicans not to go “back to the past” and confirmed that he would support Trump, the opponent who mocked and humiliated him last year.
“We have no clear path to victory,” DeSantis said in the video posted on X announcing his departure from the race. “Accordingly, I am interrupting my election campaign today.”
Now the Republican primary is limited to a two-person race, with only former President Trump and his former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley vying for the nomination.
“I want to say Ron, he ran a great race,” Haley said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire Sunday afternoon. “He's been a good governor and we wish him well. “However, there's only one guy and one lady left now.”
Although the governor repeatedly criticized Trump for refusing to debate in the primary cycle and took several blows from the ex-president, he decided to support his former rival.
Throughout the campaign, Trump called DeSantis a “traitor” for his decision to run for president in 2024, after the former president's support led him to seek the Republican nomination for governor in Florida in 2018 to back up.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said. “They see his presidency hampered by implacable opposition, and they see how Democrats today are using the judiciary to attack him.”
He added: “Trump is superior to current incumbent Joe Biden. That's clear.”
“I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will keep that pledge.”
The pledge in question is what the Republican National Committee (RNC) required all candidates to sign, promising to support the eventual nominee if they wanted to participate in their four primary debates last year. Trump never signed the pledge and refused to show up at the debates.
DeSantis' young family accompanied him most of the time on the campaign trail. Pictured: Ron, Casey, Madison, six, Mason, five, and Mamie, three, appear together on stage at a campaign rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Saturday, January 20 – the day before Governor DeSantis is due to step out dropped out of the race
Casey and Ron DeSantis hug during a caucus night party Monday, Jan. 15, in West Des Moines, Iowa, after the governor finished second in the first primary state
After no clues about Sunday's or Monday's events were reported ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, speculation began to swirl about where DeSantis ended up after his victory on Saturday.
The announcement of the end of his campaign was filmed in Florida, where he is now known to have returned after holding his final 2024 campaign rally in South Carolina on Saturday.
Shortly after the video went online, a notice was sent out that DeSantis' Sunday evening meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire, should be canceled.
The DeSantis campaign vehemently denied to on Sunday any rumors that might surface and that DeSantis' plans to exit would be detailed – but just hours later, the governor released a video on X ending his bid.
“Nobody worked harder, and we left it all on the field,” DeSantis said in a four-and-a-half video marking his exit from the campaign. “After our second place in Iowa, we prayed and thought about the way forward.”
“If I could do anything to get a positive result, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it,” he continued. “But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources.”
It appeared DeSantis would stay in the race all the way to South Carolina, hoping Haley would do poorly in her home state and drop out.
Instead, he opted to withdraw before New Hampshire could take a stand on Tuesday.
'[Trump] “has my endorsement because we cannot go back to the old Republican guard of yesterday — a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism — that Nikki Haley represents,” he said as he criticized the former president’s only remaining GOP contender.
DeSantis launched his campaign in a disastrous Twitter spacing event before CEO Elon Musk shut down the site
In the final days of the race, DeSantis was desperately trying to figure out where his message could best resonate after losing Iowa to Trump by 30 points.
After traveling to all 99 counties in Iowa and garnering the support of the state's popular governor, Kim Reynolds, DeSantis still failed to cast the vote to win the Jan. 15 caucuses.
The day after the Iowa caucuses, DeSantis flew to Greenville, South Carolina, to canvass the fourth primary state, hoping voters there would turn against Nikki Haley.
After the brief stop in South Carolina, DeSantis flew back to New Hampshire later in the day before CBS News announced on Wednesday that the governor planned to leave the Granite State – possibly permanently – to campaign again in South Carolina all weekend close.
However, this trip ultimately lasted one day – with three events. It ended with headlines about DeSantis arguing with a fourth-grade teacher about Haley's education record as governor.
Instead of campaigning in South Carolina, DeSantis was scheduled to fly back to New Hampshire on Sunday. But after his appearances on NBC's “Meet the Press” and CNN's “State of the Union” were canceled, it became clear that something else was afoot.
Hours later, on Sunday morning, he abandoned the race and canceled the remaining events.