After his defeat in the Iowa caucuses, DeSantis spent a week conferring with his advisers before deciding to drop out of the race for the White House.
The Iowa caucuses on January 15 were a huge disappointment for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He finished second with 21.2% of the vote, well behind former President Donald Trump, who had more than 51%. The result set off a week of tense consultations between DeSantis and his aides about the future of his campaign.
Mr. DeSantis, 45, had previously hoped to continue competing with Mr. Trump and former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in the first primaries, in order to gain momentum for the sprint to conquer the ambition of becoming US president. He is considered a "rising star" of the Republican Party and is expected by many donors to be an alternative to Trump.
DeSantis was once considered Trump's real rival in the race for the Republican nomination. Trump attacked DeSantis before he officially entered the race for the White House in May 2023. The former president even nicknamed his opponent "DeSanctimonious," an action that DeSantis criticized as "childish."
However, in the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses on January 15, DeSantis began to lose steam, losing ground to Haley in national polls. DeSantis’s support gradually declined, while Trump continued to consolidate his lead, despite a series of legal scandals.
DeSantis and his team began to change their targets. They had declared he would win Iowa, but then settled for second place, avoiding an embarrassing third-place finish.
But they face a reality of dwindling campaign finances. The DeSantis campaign and its super PACs cannot raise enough money to offset the tens of millions of dollars spent on a futile campaign effort in Iowa.
DeSantis wants to learn what happened in Iowa and determine his prospects for the upcoming primaries in New Hampshire on January 23 and then South Carolina on February 24. South Carolina is where advisers believe DeSantis has an opportunity to gain momentum in the coming months.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks in Atlantic, Iowa on January 15. Photo: AFP
The Florida governor has been questioning advisers as he digests his defeat in Iowa, while continuing to campaign in the next few states. He traveled to South Carolina and New Hampshire over the next few days, but made no visible changes.
The Florida governor is third in New Hampshire polls, behind Mr Trump and Ms Haley, while prospects in South Carolina are also bleak.
By January 18, the “information gap had been closed,” sources familiar with the matter said. But DeSantis still wanted to meet with voters again, so he decided to travel to New Hampshire and South Carolina to get a final look at the situation.
After the South Carolina rally, he summoned some of his closest advisers to the governor's mansion in Tallahassee, Florida, on the morning of January 21 for a final discussion about the future of the campaign.
Texas Rep. Chip Roy, one of DeSantis’s most prominent supporters, traveled to Tallahassee for a final round of discussions, according to people familiar with the matter. Roy helped the Florida governor weigh his decision to drop out of the race before New Hampshire’s primary, as well as weigh the pros and cons of backing Trump.
Sen. Roy said on Friday night that he had “constantly spoken to the governor of Florida” throughout the campaign and thought “he did the right thing” by ending the race and backing Trump. Roy declined to elaborate on the content of his conversations with DeSantis.
After a discussion with his advisers, DeSantis and his wife, Casey, went upstairs for a private discussion. They decided that DeSantis would suspend his campaign because there was no longer a viable path for him to continue. When he returned to his team, DeSantis had already written out a bullet point for his announcement to leave the race for the White House.
The decision to suspend his candidacy was kept secret by his close advisers. His campaign manager, donor Dan Eberhart, only learned of it while en route to New Hampshire, and several other aides and super PACs were not told in advance. But it was no surprise to them.
"I'm not shocked at all. I think he'd be a great president, but not the best candidate," Eberhart said.
Mr. DeSantis and his advisers did not discuss it with Mr. Trump’s team before making the announcement, a senior adviser to the former president said.
Hours before the announcement, Mr. DeSantis canceled his plans to appear on television shows on January 21, a move that left allies and opponents somewhat guessing the Florida Governor's intentions.
“People want to stay until South Carolina, but it’s getting harder to raise money,” said a DeSantis adviser. He later announced his suspension of his campaign in a post on social media platform X.
"After finishing second in the Iowa caucuses, we have been considering the path forward. If there is anything I can do to improve the outcome or cause more of my opponents to drop out, I will do it. However, I cannot ask my supporters to invest their time and money if we are not sure of winning. Therefore, today I have decided to suspend my campaign," he wrote.
Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Rochester, New Hampshire on January 21. Photo: AFP
"They have big political differences, but Mr. DeSantis shares Mr. Trump's views on many issues, except for Covid-19 policy," said the Florida Governor's adviser.
Mr. DeSantis has criticized Mr. Trump for enacting federal social distancing and mask mandates and promoting vaccinations to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. But his inner circle agrees that supporting Mr. Trump is the right move, three people familiar with the matter said.
Many DeSantis allies believe the Florida governor will run in 2028, hoping that no one will stand in his way. Meanwhile, a source familiar with the matter said DeSantis is spending time with his family in Florida.
Mr. DeSantis has no intention of running as Mr. Trump’s vice president, the person said. After the decision, Ms. Halley is Mr. Trump’s only rival in the Republican presidential nomination race.
Nhu Tam (According to NBC News, Reuters )
Source link
Comment (0)