US Presidential Election 2024: Internal Republican race ends early

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has just withdrawn from the race for the Republican presidential nomination and announced his support for candidate Donald Trump.

Mr. Donald Trump and Mr. Ron DeSantis at a Republican Party meeting. Photo: FOX NEWS

In the Republican primary on January 5 in Iowa, Mr. Trump easily won with 51% of the total votes, 30% ahead of the second-placed Mr. DeSantis, while former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley ranked third with 19% of the total votes. Many people predict that Mr. DeSantis will have a poor result in the primary election in New Hampshire on January 23, where Ms. Haley is considered the most competitive opponent to former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis’s support in New Hampshire could go to Trump, widening his lead over Nikki Haley. Another decisive victory there could make the former president virtually unstoppable. Trump is also campaigning hard in South Carolina, the third state to hold its primary on February 24.

Florida’s governor has dropped out just two days before New Hampshire voters cast their ballots to choose the Republican presidential nominee. Now the race is down to Trump and Nikki Haley. Losing the former president’s lead is a crushing defeat for DeSantis, who once represented the Republican Party’s strongest hope of unseating Trump, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It is likely that many in the Republican establishment underestimated Mr. Trump. It is also a blow to the promising career of a rising Republican star, and the low polling numbers have raised doubts among Mr. DeSantis’s allies and close advisers. Some say Mr. DeSantis has spent too much time attacking former President Donald Trump.

Others say DeSantis’ team underestimated former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. But many say DeSantis is young and needs to back Trump if he wants to have a chance at the Republican nomination in 2028. Trump’s campaign was delighted by DeSantis’s withdrawal, saying it was time for all Republicans to rally behind former President Donald Trump to defeat President Joe Biden in November.

According to David Kochel, a Republican strategist who has worked on five presidential campaigns, DeSantis’s withdrawal is unlikely to change the fundamentals of the Republican campaign because support has declined. However, according to the Washington Post, for Republicans, there is a reminder that they can enter the upcoming campaign with someone who “has many flawed standards,” “deeply divided voters,” and could still become a “felon” before Election Day. With four indictments and 91 charges, does that make Republicans question whether Trump should be the party’s nominee? So far, the indictments have strengthened voters’ support rather than discrediting Trump.

KHANH MINH

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