Ron DeSantis ends 2024 campaign, endorses Trump over Haley as New
Hampshire vote looms
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[January 22, 2024]
By Gram Slattery, James Oliphant and Nathan Layne
SEABROOK, New Hampshire (Reuters) -Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ended
his fading presidential campaign on Sunday and endorsed Donald Trump
just two days before the pivotal New Hampshire primary, leaving former
U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as Trump's last long-shot challenger for the
Republican nomination.
DeSantis' decision, less than a week after his deflating loss to Trump
in Iowa despite an enormous investment there, caps a stunning fall from
grace after DeSantis had been widely seen as Republicans' most promising
alternative to Trump ahead of the general election in November.
His departure sets up the one-on-one battle that Haley has coveted
against Trump, the former president who has maintained an iron grip on
the Republican electorate despite facing four criminal prosecutions.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in all the cases.
But DeSantis' supporters appear more likely to switch allegiance to
Trump than to the more moderate Haley. In New Hampshire, about
two-thirds of DeSantis backers cite Trump as their second choice, said
Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
In a video posted on X, DeSantis endorsed Trump while delivering a
parting shot at Haley.
"He has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican
guard of yesteryear: a re-packaged form of warmed-over corporatism that
Nikki Haley represents," DeSantis said.
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At a Sunday evening rally in Rochester, New Hampshire, Trump - who spent
much of last year attacking DeSantis - praised the governor and said he
was looking forward to working together to defeat President Joe Biden,
the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Trump accused Haley of forming an "unholy alliance" with liberals,
never-Trumpers and RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only, to try and win
the New Hampshire primary, and repeated a false claim that registered
Democrats were allowed to vote in the Republican primary.
Trump holds a double-digit lead over Haley in New Hampshire, according
to polls, and his campaign hopes a second consecutive win will make his
eventual nomination all but inevitable.
He also has a commanding lead in South Carolina, which votes on Feb. 24.
A Haley loss in her home state - where she served as governor from 2011
to 2017 - would likely doom her campaign.
At a campaign event in Seabrook, New Hampshire, Haley drew cheers when
she announced that DeSantis had dropped out.
"For now, I'll leave you with this: May the best woman win," she said.
David Kochel, a Republican strategist who has worked on five
presidential campaigns, said DeSantis' exit was unlikely to change the
basic contours of the campaign, given that his support had cratered.
"The race needs a big dynamic shift, and I don't feel that DeSantis
dropping out is that big a deal as he didn't have that much going on in
New Hampshire, and he didn't even have that much going on in South
Carolina," he said.
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![](../images/012224PIX/news_m17.jpg)
Casey DeSantis introduces her husband and Republican presidential
candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as he makes a campaign
visit ahead of the South Carolina presidential primary in Myrtle
Beach, South Carolina, U.S. January 20, 2024. REUTERS/Randall Hill
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/22/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_122623.png)
Another Republican consultant, Ford O'Connell, who has ties to both
the Trump and DeSantis camps, said he expected most DeSantis voters
to "come home" to Trump.
"Without question, Trump is the beneficiary of DeSantis ending his
campaign," he said.
With time running short, Haley has sharpened her attacks on the
frontrunner in the final days before the election, blaming Trump for
Republican electoral losses in 2020 and 2022 and criticizing his
praise for authoritarian leaders.
ONCE A CONTENDER
Early last year, DeSantis was considered a top presidential
contender and a natural heir to Trump due to his combative style and
deeply conservative views. He led several head-to-head polls against
Trump.
But his support had declined for several months, due to a flawed
campaign strategy, his seeming lack of ease with voters on the
campaign trail and Trump's so far unshakeable command of much of the
party's base.
More than 70% of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Trump,
according to most polls. That forced DeSantis to try and appeal to
voters who still admired Trump, as well as those who passionately
disliked him.
DeSantis failed on both counts. He never successfully articulated to
most Trump supporters why he was a better option, while Republicans
looking to ditch the former president split their votes among
multiple candidates.
While many major donors threw their support behind DeSantis early
on, they began to rebel as early as the summer.
Several DeSantis allies say the governor waited too long to enter
the race, which left him open to blistering attacks by Trump, who
had announced his campaign more than six months earlier.
When DeSantis did formally launch his White House run in May 2023,
it was a glitch-filled disaster on Twitter, now known as X, an
inauspicious start for a campaign predicated on the governor's
executive competence.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/22/images/ads/current/cefcu_sda_LUAL_2023.png)
The campaign overhired, burning through cash at a rapid rate, and
then outsourced much of the traditional work of a campaign to an
outside super PAC, which can accept donations of unlimited size but
cannot coordinate with the campaign itself.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Seabrook, New Hampshire; Nathan Layne
in Rochester, New Hampshire; and James Oliphant in Epping, New
Hampshire; Additional reporting by Rami Ayyub in Washington; Writing
by Susan Heavey and Joseph Ax; Editing by Ross Colvin, Alistair Bell
and Leslie Adler)
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