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Vivek Ramaswamy: The 38-year-old recommended his supporters to vote for Trump now
Photo: Alyssa Pointer / REUTERS
The field of candidates for the US Republican presidential nomination is thinning. Former biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced the end of his campaign on Tuesday night after his disappointing performance in the Iowa primary.
The 38-year-old advised his supporters to vote for former President Donald Trump instead. Trump now has his "full support" in the race for the White House, Ramaswamy told supporters after the forecasts became known.
Ramaswamy had started the race as an outsider. In the first round of the primary, which traditionally takes place in Iowa, he received an estimated 7.7 percent of the vote after partial results were counted. According to preliminary forecasts, he thus ended up in fourth place, well behind. Trump, on the other hand, ranked by a clear margin ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN ambassador and ex-governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley.
Ramaswamy, a political newcomer, had been a loyal supporter of Trump from the beginning, but had campaigned for himself with the argument that he was younger and willing to push through his role model's ideas even more consistently.
In the primaries, Republicans decide who to send to the actual presidential election in November. The next primaries will be held on January 23 in the state of New Hampshire.
The winner of the national Republican primaries will challenge incumbent Joe Biden of the Democratic Party in the presidential election on November 5. Biden is considered set by the Democrats.
asc/Reuters/AFP