Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Sunday January 21 that he was withdrawing from the race for the Republican nomination, and that he would support Donald Trump in the November presidential election.
“I am suspending my campaign today,” he said in a video published on X (formerly Twitter).
“It is clear to me that the majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance.”
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
- Winston Churchill pic.twitter.com/ECoR8YeiMm
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 21, 2024
Defeat in Iowa
Sensed a few months ago as being the main opponent of the former American president, Ron DeSantis was sometimes predicted to be the winner against Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in opinion polls in early 2023.
But the governor of Florida, with tough positions on immigration and abortion, came second during the Iowa caucus on Monday, far behind Donald Trump, with 21% of the vote against 51% for the former president.
“I cannot ask our volunteers to give their time and money if we do not have a clear path to victory,” he justified in his video.
“I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, like on the coronavirus pandemic,” but “Trump is better than the current incumbent, Joe Biden,” added the 45-year-old.
02:23
His announcement, which comes two days before the primaries in the American state of New Hampshire, leaves the way clear for
a duel between Donald Trump, favorite in the polls, and his former United States ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, to face the current tenant of the White House Joe Biden during the American presidential election in November.
Read alsoAmerican presidential election: Nikki Haley, rival of Donald Trump, relies on “electoral dynamics”
With AFP and Reuters
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