Ron DeSantis exits GOP race before New Hampshire primary, leaving a Trump-Haley contest

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) dropped out of the Republican presidential race on Sunday, two days before the New Hampshire primary, leaving former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley the last viable challenger to former President Donald Trump. DeSantis, once viewed as Trump's main rival in the race, placed a distant second in the Iowa caucuses. He was polling in the single digits in New Hampshire. 

DeSantis announced his exit from the race in a short video posted to X. In it, he endorsed Trump, saying the former president was better than the "warmed-over corporatism" of Haley and the clear choice of "a majority of Republican primary voters." 

The endorsement was "as quick as it was perfunctory," The New York Times said, and it appeared to be an effort by DeSantis to "unite the conservative wing of the party" behind Trump "while ignoring the fact that he was bending the knee to a man who had ridiculed him as if it were a blood sport." It was a "stunning tail-between-his-legs moment for DeSantis, whom Trump has mercilessly and relentlessly taunted in deeply personal terms" for the past year, The Associated Press agreed. 

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The exit video was also captioned by a quote attributed to Winston Churchill — "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" — that the International Churchill Society called fake. ("What Churchill did say was, 'Success always demands a greater effort,'" RealClearPolitics' Carl Cannon noted. "Perhaps that's off-brand today.")

DeSantis' departure "is the scenario Trump's foes in the GOP have long sought," leaving one clear alternative to Trump, AP reported. But "the support DeSantis was drawing in New Hampshire will likely go to Trump, widening his lead," The Wall Street Journal noted. "Another decisive victory here for the former president could make him nearly impossible to stop."

Trump said Sunday night he appreciated DeSantis' endorsement, called him "a really terrific person" who had done "a very good job," and told supporters his favorite cutting nickname for the Florida governor, "Ron DeSanctimonious," is "officially retired." 

From the "historic disaster" of his entrance to the race in a glitchy Twitter livestream to his farewell video, DeSantis' $130 million "high-drama, low-functioning campaign" was "plagued by a slew of problems" and missed opportunities, Semafor assessed, listing 13 of them. But he was right, a week ago in Iowa, that Trump would overlook their bitter rivalry and welcome him into the fold with warm words.