Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he is withdrawing from the presidential race.

In his video message, the Republican noted that, “without a clear path to victory,” he does not want to ask his supporters to continue to provide free support for his election campaign.

“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said.

The Florida governor also noted that, despite certain differences between him and Trump, he will support the former American leader in the elections.

Ron DeSantis announced the end of his campaign shortly after the Republican primary in Iowa, where he received 21.2% of the vote, finishing second.

First - Donald Trump (51%).

DeSantis announced his participation in the US presidential elections in May last year.

For some time he was considered Trump's main rival, but the Florida governor failed to build on a successful campaign and gain widespread support among GOP voters.

Some of DeSantis' campaign donors want him to save political capital to run for president in 2028, according to Bloomberg.

The politician is now 45 years old, and donors see him as potential for another run once Trump's name is no longer on the ballot.

On the way to New Hampshire

Donald Trump, commenting on DeSantis' withdrawal from the election race, noted that the Florida governor ran a "really good campaign."

“I’ll tell you: it’s not easy,” the billionaire emphasized.

Trump called DeSantis' support "a great honor."

“I also look forward to working with Ron and the others to defeat corrupt Joe Biden.

We must kick him out (from the White House. -

RT

),” he said.

In addition, the billionaire said that he would no longer use the nickname Desanctimonious (from the English sanctimonious - sanctimonious, hypocritical), which he coined for him last year, in relation to the Florida governor.

Let us remind you that former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have already dropped out of the fight for the right to become a candidate from the Republican Party in the US presidential elections.

Thus, only two candidates remain on the list of participants in the Republican primaries: Donald Trump and former US permanent representative to the UN, ex-governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley.

  • Nikki Haley

  • AP

  • © Matt Rourke

Haley thanked DeSantis for participating in the primaries, while saying that she was not going to give up the race and intended to win.

“There are two people in this race.

This is exactly what we wanted from the very beginning.

We are not going to give up,” she said.

The Trump campaign responded to Haley’s decision to continue the fight against the former American leader, emphasizing that she does not represent the interests of the Republican electorate.

“Nikki Haley is the globalist and Democratic candidate who is willing to do anything to end the America First movement.”

From raising taxes to eliminating Social Security and Medicare to opening borders, she represents the views of

Democrats

rather than Republicans.

It’s time to choose wisely,” the statement said.

The next Republican primary will be held on January 23 in New Hampshire.

According to the latest polls, Trump could get from 46 to 55% of the vote, and Haley from 34 to 44%.

Nuclear electorate

Desantis failed to convince Republican Party sponsors that he could defeat Joe Biden in the presidential election, American political scientist Mikhail Sinelnikov-Orishak noted in a conversation with RT.

“At some point, Desantis finally realized that he simply would not raise enough money to run a successful election campaign.

In addition to direct funding, this also applies to political influence and the level of media support in various regions of the United States.

At a certain point, seeing such dynamics, a sober-minded person decides to leave the race,” he said.

American political scientist Dmitry Drobnitsky, in a conversation with RT, also noted that Desantis was unable to effectively realize his potential and convince party donors and voters that he is better than Trump.

“It has long been clear that Desantis is losing steam.

The voters' votes go to Trump, and the donors' money goes to Nikki Haley.

It became clear quite quickly that DeSantis, unfortunately, did not answer one key question for voters and elite groups, namely: why is he opposing Donald Trump?

The primaries are not only a battle of personalities, it is also a battle of political programs.

It was necessary to explain how he differs from Trump.

He played on the same field, but at the same time worse, less confidently and could not explain to voters why he should be the candidate and not Trump,” the expert said.

Therefore, interest in him gradually faded away almost from the very beginning of his participation in the election race, Drobnitsky added.

In addition, a nuclear electorate has formed around Trump, which is personally devoted to him and will support him in all primaries and elections in 2024, RT’s interlocutor noted.

“This electorate has been following Trump since 2016,” the political scientist recalled.

And against the backdrop of numerous cases and trials initiated against Trump, the billionaire’s supporters rallied even more strongly around him, added Dmitry Drobnitsky.

Followers of the 45th President of the United States believe that Trump's enemies want to remove him from participation in the elections by any means, he noted. 

“At the same time, we must give Trump his due - he is very active, consistent and continues the political struggle, despite the prosecution.

He remains the leader of the Republican field, and there are no other candidates who could challenge his leadership position,” the political scientist said.

Now Trump will also receive part of the votes of voters who were previously going to vote for Desantis, which will further strengthen his position, the analyst noted. 

Despite Trump's strong support from Republican voters, Nikki Haley intends to continue her rivalry with the ex-president.

However, even with the support of the so-called deep establishment, whose candidate is Haley, she has no chance, Drobnitsky believes.

“She will try to cling to the primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

She should win in South Carolina because it is her state, her political homeland: she grew up there, studied there and became governor.

In New Hampshire, she expects to show a result at least comparable to Trump, and reduce the large lead with which she finished in Iowa (19.1%),” explained RT’s interlocutor.

In his opinion, Haley will become the Republican candidate only if Trump is removed from the election through the courts.

“Then the status quo will return: the bipartisan establishment is back, all the Trumpists are defeated and Joe Biden will win the election against Haley.

However, this does not remove the main problem in 2024, which is that all electoral processes will be delegitimized to a certain extent.

Their results will not be accepted by the losing side, especially if the losing side is the Trumpists,” the political scientist concluded.