Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has withdrawn from the 2024 presidential contest and endorsed Donald Trump.
He resigned before the New Hampshire Republican primary, when he was receiving single-digit polling.
Though Mr. DeSantis was formerly thought to be a serious candidate for the party’s nomination, he declared on Sunday that he did not “have a clear path to victory”.
Mr. Trump’s final opponent, Nikki Haley, declared herself the “only one” capable of defeating US President Joe Biden.
Following this event, Haley—the former US ambassador to the UN under Trump—becomes the final Republican contender seeking to keep Trump from winning the nomination. In November 2024, the nominee from the Republican Party that emerges victorious this year will face off against Joe Biden, the presumed Democratic contender.
“For now, I’ll leave you with this: May the best woman win,” remarked Haley.
Republican donors now have just one candidate to back if they choose to try and defeat Trump, which gives Haley a distinct advantage.
According to Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Centre, the majority of DeSantis’s supporters in New Hampshire—roughly two-thirds of them—named Trump as their backup option.