Ramaswamy endorses Trump as he drops out of the race

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign stop at the Hampton Inn & Suites Sioux City South on January 08, 2024 in Sioux City, Iowa.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Vivek Ramaswamy, a wealthy 38-year-old entrepreneur who crashed the Republican primary in 2023 with an energetic, libertarian-leaning candidacy announced Monday night that he is ending his White House bid.

"We've looked at it every which way, and the hard truth is that we did not achieve the surprise we wanted tonight," Ramaswamy said in his concession speech Monday night. "As of this moment we are going to suspend this presidential campaign."

"There is no path for me to be the next president," he said from Des Moines.

Ramaswamy appeared on the scene as a political outsider. With a background in tech, he rose in the polls after sparring on the debate stage with fellow Republican candidates and making bombastic attacks against his opponents, most notably, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

However, there were signs that his campaign was in dire straits leading up to the Iowa caucuses. He failed to qualify for the most recent debate in Iowa and in November of last year, his political director left Ramaswamy’s team to join former President Donald Trump’s campaign, and his once technocratic message was all but replaced by a growing focus on far-right conspiracy theories and election denialism.

According to 538, Ramaswamy peaked in the polls at the end of the summer in 2023, but has since steadily declined. According to a recent poll by Reuters/Ipsos published on January 10, Ramaswamy trailed in fourth place with only 4% support behind Ron DeSantis, Haley and Trump. However, the poll also included Chris Christie, who was in last place with 2%, before he dropped out.

The young Republican presidential hopeful regularly made remarks that appeared to align him closely with Trump — including saying he would support the former president as the nominee, even if he was ultimately convicted in one of the multiple legal challenges he faces. In a September interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week,” Ramaswamy argued that he believed “many of these prosecutions against Donald Trump are outright, downright politicized persecutions.”

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Most recently, Ramaswamy doubled down on his support for Trump. Just last week, Ramaswamy filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the court to rule in favor of Trump in the Colorado ballot access case.

“The conclusion is inescapable: President Trump’s political opponents have sought to disqualify him from the ballot in multiple states because they fear they cannot beat him in a free and fair election,” the filing stated.

Some Republicans, like Christie, attacked Ramaswamy over his unflinching support for Trump. In an October interview, Christie said Ramaswamy was “practically his wingman.”

Ramaswamy was also criticized on the campaign trail for inconsistencies in his views on issues like abortion.

Republican voters are set to brave the Iowa winter on Monday, where they will pick their favored candidate heading into the 2024 election in a process called “caucusing.” It’s the first major opportunity for Republicans to win delegates to help their chances at the nomination.

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Vivek Ramaswamy Drops Out of Presidential Race After Poor Showing in Iowa