Ron DeSantis ends U.S. presidential campaign, endorses Trump

YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday ended his U.S. presidential campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reports.

His exit came just two days before voting in New Hampshire’s primary, where Trump appears to be closing in on another victory that would underscore hisunrivaled gripon the GOP.

DeSantis, 45, had seemed to many Republicans like the most viable challenger to Trump after the 2022 midterms, when the governor won reelection by a landslide. But he started to lose ground in polling even before his official campaign launch in May — via a glitchy live chat that neatly embodied the way his grand plans were going awry.

“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said in a video message he posted Sunday afternoon on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. “They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him.” He acknowledged “disagreements” with Trump — he spent the past year effectively calling Trump self-absorbed and ineffective — but suggested Trump’s remaining GOP rival,Nikki Haley, was worse.

Trump’s campaign said in a statement it was “honored” by DeSantis’s endorsement and said “it is now time for all Republicans to rally behind President Trump” against Biden.