MIAMI —
Ron DeSantis, the candidate who was running in the Republican Party primaries as the alternative to Donald Trump, finally has given up on his aspirations to reach the White House and announced on Sunday that he is leaving the race.
Rumors about the possibility that the governor of Florida could suspend the campaign began to gain strength early on Sunday, when some media outlets indicated that DeSantis’ team had met to address this situation after the Iowa caucuses.
In that “litmus test”, former President Donald Trump achieved the support of the Republicans by achieving the support of 51% of the votes (20 delegates), while Ron DeSantis had to settle for 21.2% (8 delegates). and Nikki Haley, with 19.1% (7 delegates).
Photo gallery The Republican race for the White House Who is left and who has withdrawn?
DeSantis now supports Trump
With these results, Trump’s “leadership” over the rest of the candidates was evident and what the polls conducted in recent months had shown, giving a clear victory to the former president. Faced with this scenario, the governor of Florida publicly admitted his situation and abandoned the race.
“If we don’t have a clear path to victory, we won’t be able to do it,” Ron DeSantis said in a video message broadcast through his campaign’s social media channels.
In his speech he was also convinced, in reference to the Iowa results, that “the majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance.” “They see how his presidency is hampered by relentless resistance and they see how Democrats use the law to attack him,” he said.
Despite acknowledging that he had “had disagreements with Donald Trump,” he confirmed that he would comply with the requirement of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and that he would sign the document to support the Republican candidate for the presidential elections. of 2024.
“You have my support because we cannot return to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaging formed by the overheated corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” he said.
Trump appreciates DeSantis’ gesture
In that sense, the Trump campaign team sent a statement in which it thanked DeSantis for the gesture, as well as other candidates who, like the governor of Florida, have decided to support the former president. “The time has come for all Republicans to unite behind President Trump to defeat corrupt Joe Biden and end his disastrous presidency,” he said.
After DeSantis abandoned his presidential aspirations for the November 5 elections, some wonder what could have gone wrong for the candidate to have such unsatisfactory results.
Political analyst Gina Montaner, in statements to the Voice of Americapointed out that DeSantis was emerging as a candidate with possibilities of being an alternative to Donald Trump, “showing off the image that he has as a strong man in Florida, however, it has been deflating.”
“It has been impressive to see how someone like DeSantis, who seemed to be Trump’s undoubted rival, has ended up deflating,” said the expert, pointing out that the strategy of “placing himself to the right of Trump, as the most extremist version, has not helped him.” worked.”
“Trump was the favorite from the beginning”
For his part, Fernando Godo, another expert on conservative political campaigns, recalled that, “from the beginning, Trump was the clear favorite,” a factor that, in his opinion, “probably was not taken into account by the team.” of DeSantis.”
“All indicators assumed that the favorite for the Republican nomination of the people who vote, not the politicians or the media, was Donald Trump,” he said.
In his opinion, DeSantis “made a big mistake” by wanting to run in these elections and not wait until 2028, “when he could have had enough time to prepare a campaign under conditions and with solid possibilities.” “I think he missed a wonderful opportunity to run as a favorite for the 2028 presidential campaign,” he added.
Furthermore, Thomas Kennedy, who has participated in several political campaigns in Florida, pointed out that “his strategy has not worked” while his objective “was to appear much tougher than Trump.”
Godo agrees with Kennedy that “the worst thing DeSantis did was try to imitate Trump, but without his charisma.” “The advice I would give him is to try to be himself and try to win over voters by being himself, not by trying to imitate Trump or anyone else,” he recommended.
They criticize that DeSantis has left aside the governor of Florida
On the other hand, but related to DeSantis’ “ultraconservative” stance, Kennedy recalled that during the Florida legislature, DeSantis gave the green light to “very controversial” legislative initiatives, such as the law known as “Don’t say gay,” which prohibits talking about of gender identity and sexual status in schools, or the SB 1718 law, considered the toughest anti-immigrant law in the United States, which contemplates, among other things, prison sentences for those who transport undocumented immigrants to the state.
In addition, he criticized that in recent months DeSantis has focused fully on his presidential aspirations, leaving aside some problems in the state. “In Florida we are experiencing a crisis in terms of the property insurance market, the price of rents and home purchases, and we are seeing zero solutions from the state legislature because they spent a year and a half focusing on trying to give an advantage to DeSantis to run in the Republican primary,” stressed the liberal-leaning analyst.
Godo, for his part, insisted that “DeSantis has to do what is best for Floridians, something he has not done,” in reference to the same problems pointed out by Kennedy. “He has never talked about property taxes and insurance problems, which is what most worries citizens, both Democrats and Republicans,” he said, adding that “all citizens suffer equally from property taxes, which are higher every day and that increasingly suffocate both the owners and those who rent.”
What will happen to Nikki Haley?
After the abandonment of Ron DeSantis, only Donald Trump and Nikki Haley would remain in the Republican race. This Tuesday the primaries will be held in New Hampshire and there are no surprises expected in terms of the expected results for Trump. Analysts assured that Nikki Haley could receive greater support in that state compared to Iowa, but not so decisive as to mark a winning trend in the future.
“We have to wait until the results of New Hampshire, and I think that there Nikki Haley does have a chance because she is increasingly supported by more people in the Republican Party and because I think there are also those who are looking for an alternative in case the “Former President Trump cannot participate for legal reasons,” said Luis Atencio, another analyst consulted by the VOA.
While waiting for what may happen in the coming weeks, Godo was convinced that the former United States ambassador to the United Nations (UN) “has no chance of being nominated” as the presidential candidate, but he believes that it can be open the possibility that the Republican Party will pressure Trump to end up choosing Haley as his running mate.
“That is the reason why I believe that she can remain there without having any chance,” he stressed.
On the other hand, Kennedy predicted that Trump will not choose that option, taking into account that she has run as the candidate who has completely opposed the former president’s policies. “It’s sad for the country, but the election is going to be between Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” she added.
The reaction of the Democratic party
The Democratic Party also reacted to the suspension of Ron DeSantis’ presidential race. Through a written statement sent to the VOAthe president of the political organization in Florida, Nikki Fried, called the DeSantis campaign “a decomposed animal carcass on the side of the road.”
In his opinion, “his ridiculous obsession with the presidency has had real consequences” in the state of Florida, “from his refusal to address our homeowners insurance and affordability crisis to the effects of his invented culture wars,” alluding to the policies implemented by the governor in recent months.
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