Florida’s maverick governor Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign for president on Sunday, closing the book on a wild week that saw his White House hopes rapidly fade after a lackluster performance in the Iowa caucuses.
DeSantis’ withdrawal capped a dramatic rise and fall for the Republican firebrand, who just months ago seemed poised to eclipse former President Donald Trump as the GOP’s standard-bearer. But questions about his political skill and fundraising gradually mounted, culminating in a second place finish in Iowa that left his campaign gutted.
According to sources close to DeSantis, the governor spent his final days peppering aides with questions in an attempt to diagnose what went wrong. He continued campaigning in key early states while weighing whether to drop out before New Hampshire’s primary.
Ultimately though, the math was undeniable: money was drying up, polls showed him languishing behind Trump and Nikki Haley, and his allies concluded the “information gaps were closed.” There was no path forward.
On Sunday morning, DeSantis gathered his closest advisers at the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee for one last conversation about the future, a source said. He and his wife Casey then slipped away to deliberate privately, before returning downstairs to inform his team he was dropping out.
The decision capped nearly a week of intense discussions that began just after DeSantis placed second to Trump in the Iowa caucuses on Monday. That distant finish was a bruising blow for a campaign that once led some polls in Iowa and envisioned riding momentum there to contests in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
One key figure who traveled to advise DeSantis last week was Rep. Chip Roy, a top Congressional backer, according to sources. Roy helped the governor weigh whether to get out before New Hampshire and whether to endorse Trump upon exiting. Reached Sunday, Roy told NBC News he has been in continuous contact during the campaign and agreed with DeSantis’ choice to suspend his bid.
Up until Saturday, DeSantis was still campaigning in early states while mulling his next steps. He spent time bouncing from South Carolina to New Hampshire and Florida, making eleventh-hour overtures to voters.
But ultimately his team concluded the “information gaps were closed” by Thursday, meaning nothing DeSantis learned while campaigning was going to materially change his chances. After his last South Carolina event Saturday, the governor returned home to Tallahassee to make the final call.
In a post on X announcing his decision, DeSantis said he was suspending his campaign and endorsed Trump for president. The endorsement could surprise some, given the men’s bitter clashes during the primary. But an adviser told NBC that DeSantis sees Haley as a “globalist” and agrees with Trump’s philosophy.
The decision to back Trump was unanimous among DeSantis’ inner circle, sources said, despite their history of tension. In the end, the governor concluded it was the right strategic move rather than extending the primary by staying in. Neither camp negotiated the endorsement, according to a senior Trump aide.
For DeSantis allies, the timing was abrupt but the decision itself unsurprising. “I am not shocked,” said donor Dan Eberhart, who was en route to New Hampshire when the news broke. “I thought he would have been the best president, but he wasn’t the best candidate.”
Other aides only learned the campaign was finished when DeSantis canceled Sunday show appearances, a sign he was stepping aside. “Everyone wanted to stay in until South Carolina, but raising money became so hard, and it was not going to get easier,” an adviser said.
DeSantis’ withdrawal concludes a campaign that once seemed destined to shake up the 2024 race. The Florida governor built a national profile among conservatives with his hands-off approach to Covid-19 and eagerness to clash with Democrats on cultural issues.
At one point, polls showed DeSantis leading Trump in a hypothetical primary matchup, suggesting he could successfully carry the Trumpian mantle into the next generation of Republican leaders.
But Trump went on the offensive early, tagging DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious” and using rallies to blast his handling of Covid, schools and more. The attacks seemed to blunt DeSantis’ momentum even before he entered the race last May.
Once he jumped in, DeSantis struggled to find his footing, plagued by reports of awkward interactions with voters and blunders like a glitchy campaign launch on X Spaces. Trump and his team relentlessly hammered the narrative that DeSantis was not ready for primetime.
Money issues and staff shakeups further disrupted DeSantis’ campaign as his polling numbers sank. While he righted the ship somewhat late and performed strongly in debates, he could not recover the grassroots energy that could have fueled an insurgent bid.
Iowa was supposed to be DeSantis’ springboard back into contention. But a massive Trump win left little daylight, and suddenly New Hampshire and South Carolina seemed like impossible climbs instead of opportunities to catch fire.
By Sunday, the dream was over, and DeSantis was left to reflect on what went wrong. For some allies, there is solace in knowing he can run again down the road, perhaps when he’s more seasoned and faces less daunting competition.
For now though, Ron DeSantis is headed back to the Florida governor’s mansion after a presidential bid that flickered brightly before fading fast. And the Republican field is narrowing to a race between Trump, Haley, and a party establishment desperate to stop them both.
