DeSantis drops out of presidential race, endorses Trump
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday announced the end of his campaign to be the Republican nominee for president just days ahead of the New Hampshire primary elections.
DeSantis endorsed the party’s frontrunner, former president Donald Trump, in a video shared on X. “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” he said.
Taking a shot at Trump’s lone remaining challenger, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, he added that Republicans “can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.” DeSantis’s announcement comes after losing the Iowa caucuses by 30 percentage points, quelling expectations that he might emerge as a viable challenger to the former president. “From the day he was sworn in as governor, DeSantis set out to build a political brand on anti-LGBTQ+ hate,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. “Yet even the base he was courting with his relentless bigotry rejected him.” “As the anti-freedom governor of Florida, DeSantis has used every lever of power against LGBTQ+ people: From wielding government agencies against health care and education to punishing those who speak out against his assaults on the community,” Robinson said. “Republican primary voters rejected DeSantis and the other candidates would do well to learn that campaigns built on anti-LGBTQ+ hate are a failing political strategy.” The post DeSantis drops out of presidential race, endorses Trump appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.
