Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on Sunday, saying he would throw his support behind front-runner Donald Trump.
In a video posted to X, DeSantis said that after his second place finish last week in the Iowa caucuses he could not "ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign."
His withdrawal from the race comes less than two days before the New Hampshire primary, where polls showed him far behind former President Trump and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.
"It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance," DeSantis said in the video, noting he has had differences with the former president, notably over the coronavirus pandemic.
"He has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear or a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents."
Haley responded:
"Ron DeSantis has been a good governor, and I wish him well. So far, only one state has voted. Half of its votes went to Donald Trump, and half did not. We're not a country of coronations. Voters deserve a say in whether we go down the road of Trump and Biden again, or we go down a new conservative road. New Hampshire voters will have their say on Tuesday. When I'm president, I will do everything in my power to show them they made the right decision."
Trump, 77, stormed to victory in Iowa last Tuesday, with 51 percent of Republican voters choosing the twice-impeached former president over DeSantis, who gained only 21 percent, and Haley at 19 percent.
No candidate has ever lost the race after claiming the first two states, and Trump would almost certainly declare the Republican nomination over with a win in New Hampshire.
Haley had largely refrained from hitting out at Trump's many controversies surrounding his candidacy, but in the past week began questioning his mental acuity, making comparisons between the former president and the 81-year-old incumbent Democrat Joe Biden.
Below is a transcript of the video provided by his campaign:
"Greetings from Florida,
"The warmth of being home is a reminder of why I have chosen a life of public service: from joining the United States Navy and serving in Iraq to representing the people in Congress and now serving as governor.
"And it reminds me why I decided to run for president: to fight for those who have been forgotten in this country.
"This is America's time for choosing.
"We can choose to allow a border invasion, or we can choose to stop it.
"We can choose reckless borrowing and spending, or we can choose to limit government and lower inflation.
"We can choose political indoctrination, or we can choose classical education.
"These choices are symptoms of the underlying struggle to ensure that constitutional government can endure and that Western civilization can survive.
"We launched this campaign to bring accountability to government, regain sovereignty at our border, and restore sanity to our society.
"We cannot succeed as a country if we allow our nation to be invaded, our currency to be debased, our cities to crumble, and our kids to be indoctrinated.
"The D.C. elites who have facilitated this mess do not work for you. They do not care about you. They work for themselves. They seek to accumulate power at your expense to pursue an agenda that is harmful to the American people.
"Citizens do not serve politicians; it is the duty of politicians to serve you.
"Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words.
"Reversing the decline of this nation requires leadership that delivers big results for the people we are elected to serve.
"I have a record of leading with conviction, championing an agenda marked by bold colors, delivering on my promises, and defeating the people who are responsible for our nation's decline.
"That is the type of leadership we need for all of America.
"Now, over the past many months, Casey and I have traveled across the country to deliver a message of hope: that decline is a choice and that we, in fact, can succeed again as a nation.
"Nobody worked harder. And we left it all out on the field.
"Now following our second-place finish in Iowa, we have prayed and deliberated on the way forward. If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome — more campaign stops, more interviews — I would do it. But I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory.
"Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.
"I am proud to have delivered on 100% of my promises, and I will not stop now.
"It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him.
"While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear.
"I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge.
"He has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear — a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism — that Nikki Haley represents.
"The days of putting Americans last, of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology are over.
"I thank all of our passionate supporters who have stood by us through it all. That we had people volunteer to come to Iowa in the middle of a blizzard to knock on doors and make phone calls touched us dearly.
"No candidate had more thrown at him, but no candidate had so many committed volunteers and staff.
"Finally, I want to thank my wife, Casey, and our kids, Madison, Mason, and Mamie. Casey has gone far above and beyond in her support for our campaign and for our cause. She is not only a great wife and mother; she is a great American who cares deeply about the future of the country that our kids will inherit.
"Our kids have seen and done a lot on the trail, from playing on the famed 'Field of Dreams' baseball site in Iowa to making their first snowman in New Hampshire.
"They are one of the reasons we fight so hard for what we believe in.
"Winston Churchill once remarked that 'success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.'
"While this campaign has ended, the mission continues. Down here in Florida, we will continue to show the country how to lead.
"Thank you and God bless."