Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Sunday ended his 2024 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, ahead of the New Hampshire primary where he was trailing former UN Envoy and S. Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
Monday’s WHDH-TV/Emerson poll showed Former President Trump with 53%, Haley with 37%, and DeSantis with 10%. This after DeSantis had beaten Haley to second place in Iowa last week.
With the field narrowing down to Trump and Haley, Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary may move the needle to at least slow down Trump’s running away with the ball (too many metaphors?). If it does, Haley would walk into her home state’s South Carolina’s February 24 Republican primary with a chance to win.
Speaking to the press and a few locals at a seafood joint in Seabrook, N.H., on Sunday afternoon, Haley said, “We just heard that Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the race, and I want to say to Ron, he 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 left,” she said and held up two fingers, adding to the cheers of the seafood lovers inside, “For now, I’ll leave you with this: May the best woman win.”
Trump’s UN ambassador has been attacking her former boss with ever-growing courage, something few Republican candidates, save for Forner NJ governor Chris Christie, have dared. She criticized his tendency to befriend dictators, and even questioned his mental capacity.
She also said Trump and Biden were “equally bad” for the country, noting: “If either one of them was good, I wouldn’t be running.”
DeSantis explained his hurried departure saying a majority of Republican voters “want to give Donald Trump another chance.” He said that despite his disagreements with the former president, “I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge.”
Trump thanked the Florida governor for the endorsement and announced that he would stop making up insulting names for him. “Will I be using the name Ron DeSanctimonious?” Trump asked at his campaign headquarters in New Hampshire, and answered, “I said that name is officially retired.”
Trump did not say he was retiring the nicknames “Meatball Ron,” “DeSaster,” “Rob,” “Tiny D,” “Ron DeEstablishment,” “Shutdown Ron,” “Ron DisHonest,” “DeSoros,” and “Ron DeSanctus.”
