Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was once the leading Republican rival to Donald Trump, ended his election campaign on Sunday and threw his support behind the former president.
DeSantis's withdrawal, after months of weakening support, leaves only low-polling Nikki Haley standing between Trump and nomination as the Republican Party's candidate for the US presidential election in November.
In a video message, DeSantis said that following his second place 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."
The decision came less than two days before the New Hampshire primary, where polls showed him far behind front-runner Trump and former UN ambassador Haley.
"It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance," DeSantis said, 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."
Trump won 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.
His campaign said in a statement Sunday that he was "honored" by DeSantis' endorsement, and called for Republicans to rally behind him, dismissing Haley as "the candidate of the globalists and Democrats."
"It's time to choose wisely," the statement said.
In her own statement, Haley warned that the United States is "not a country of coronations."
"So far, only one state has voted. Half of its votes went to Donald Trump, and half did not ... Voters deserve a say in whether we go down the road of Trump and Biden again, or we go down a new conservative road," she said.
Once a rising star
Many Republicans had pinned their hopes on DeSantis, who at just 45 was embraced by some as a rising star of right.
But his candidacy, announced at the end of May, struggled to establish itself as a threat to Trump, 77.
DeSantis, a former naval officer, was elected in 2018 as governor in Florida after receiving Trump's valuable endorsement.
Since then, he often distanced himself from Trump and gained notoriety for hard-right stances on education, immigration, and LGBTQ issues.
His state management of the pandemic, pushing for a rapid reopening of the economy, and his opposition to the shutdowns of President Joe Biden's administration made him an instant hit.
He then sought a national platform but appeared stiff and uneasy at candidate debates, media interviews, and voter events.
"I'm glad that he's dropped out. I think that it was inevitable," Lynne Mason, 60, who runs a small business in Keene, New Hampshire, told AFP.
"We need a strong leader right now, with the state of the United States at this point."
At an event in Seabrook, New Hampshire, Haley said DeSantis "ran a great race, he's been a good governor, and we wish him well."
"Having said that, it's now one fella and one lady," she continued. "This comes down to 'what do you want?' Do you want more of the same or do you want something new?"
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
