Indian-origin biotech entrepreneur and Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has dropped out of the 2024 US presidential election race and announced his ‘full endorsement” to Donald Trump.
Former US President Donald Trump registered a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses to emerge as clear front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis bagged the distant second place, edging out former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Ramaswamy, a relatively unknown face in the US politics, had caused a stir in early debates with his America-first approach and tougher stance on US immigration policy.
However, he failed to gain any significant traction in the recently held Iowa caucuses winning less than 8 per cent of votes. He managed the fourth position even below Haley, who secured over 19 per cent votes in favour of her presidential bid.
“As I’ve said since the beginning, there are two America first candidates in this race and I called Donald Trump to tell him that…I congratulated him on his victory and now going forward he will have my full endorsement for the presidency, and I think we’re gonna do the right thing for this country,” the Indian-origin Republican said.
The biotech entrepreneur announced that “as of this moment we are going to suspend this campaign” and added that “there is no path for me to be the next president.”
Donald Trump, on the other hand, is poised to win the Republican presidential bid with a record margin of over 50 per cent votes.
The former US President thanked “the great people of Iowa” in his victory speech and added “It would be so nice if we could come together and straighten up the problems of the world.”
Trump is likely to face a Democrat, most likely sitting US president Joe Biden in the US presidential election 2024 scheduled to be held in November.