Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his 2024 campaign and announced he is endorsing former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary following a disappointing showing in Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
“As of this moment, we are going to suspend his presidential campaign,” Ramaswamy said. “There is no path for me to be the next president absent things that we don’t want to see happen in this country.”
Ramaswamy, who came in fourth on Monday, has long been supportive of the former president and campaigned on a platform that included pardoning Trump for any future federal convictions. He ran a campaign focused primarily, however, on dismantling the administrative state.
“This is a campaign founded on speaking the truth, not just when it’s easy but when it’s hard, not just to the Democrats but to our own side, and not just to other campaigns and candidacies but to ours,” Ramaswamy said.
He continued, “And so I will stick to the truth tonight, the first hard truth, and this one’s hard for me. I gotta admit this, but we’ve looked at it every which way, and I think it is true that we did not achieve the surprise that we wanted to deliver tonight, and I think that’s just a hard fact that we’re going to have to accept as a campaign.”
In announcing his decision to back Trump, Ramaswamy explained that his goal was to empower Trump as the leading America First candidate in the primary contest.
“As I’ve said since the beginning there are two America first candidates in this race,” the former candidate said. “Earlier tonight I called Donald Trump to tell him that I congratulate him on his victory. And now going forward, he will have my full endorsement for the presidency.”
“I think we’re going to do the right thing for this country,” he added. “ And so I’m going to ask you to follow me in taking our America First movement to the next level.”
Ramaswamy’s standing with the former president appeared to begin slipping after he did not withdraw from the race ahead of the Iowa showdown. Still, Trump congratulated Ramaswamy in his victory speech on Monday.
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“I also want to congratulate Vivek because he did a hell of a job,” Trump said to cheers from the crowd. “He came from zero and he’s got a big percentage, probably 8%, almost 8%. That’s an amazing job.”
