ADVERTISEMENT
Vivek Ramaswamy ends presidential bid after dismal showing at Iowa caucus
As he ended his race, Ramaswamy endorsed Trump.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy speaks with voters Jan. 12 in Des Moines, Iowa. / (Gage Skidmore photo via Flickr, Creative Commons license)
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy ended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Jan. 15 evening, after failing to get the support of Iowa voters in the first contest of the 2024 election cycle.
With 95 percent of votes counted, Ramaswamy — who had poured $15 million of his own money into his campaign for office — took 7.7 percent — 8300 — votes, despite holding over 300 events in Iowa in the days before the caucus.
He ended the evening trailing far behind President Donald Trump, who swept the race, garnering 51 percent of the vote. Florida governor Ron DeSantis finished a close second to former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
As he ended his race, Ramaswamy endorsed Trump. "There needs to be an America First candidate in this race. Going forward, he will have my full endorsement for the presidency,” he said, adding that he had called Trump earlier that evening to pledge his support and appear at campaign events with him. Ramaswamy had modeled much of his campaign platform on Trump’s policies, pledging to take them even further.
This entire campaign is about speaking the TRUTH. We did not achieve our goal tonight & we need an America-First patriot in the White House. The people spoke loud & clear about who they want. Tonight I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Donald J. Trump and will do everything…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) January 16, 2024
While the frontrunner had initially supported Ramaswamy, but three days before the Iowa Caucus, he posted to the Truth Social platform: “Vivek started his campaign as a great supporter. Unfortunately now all he does is disguise his support in the form of deceitful campaign tricks.”
At a late night press conference in Des Moines, Iowa, Ramaswamy said, “I promise you, we are just getting started. The hard truth is that we did not achieve tonight what we had started out to do. There is no path for me to be the President absent things that we don’t want to see happen in this country. I am very worried for this country.”
“But we’re just getting started. Apoorva (his wife) and I are not going anywhere. We are going forward that America First goes on. We’re going to take this movement to the next level. Our best days as a nation are still ahead,” Ramaswamy asserted.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
E Paper
Video
.png)
.jpeg)
.png)
Comments
Start the conversation
Become a member of New India Abroad to start commenting.
Sign Up Now
Already have an account? Login