Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has dropped out of the presidential race after a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses and endorsed Donald Trump.
“There is no path for me to be the next president absent things that we don't want to see happen in this country,” he told supporters in Iowa on Monday. He added that he had spoken to Mr Trump and planned to campaign for him.
His departure further narrows down the field dominated by the ex-president. On Monday night, Donald Trump finished with an overwhelming lead in Iowa, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in second and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in third.
Mr Ramaswamy, who finished in the fourth place, was the only candidate of the night to announce his departure from the race after Iowa held its first-in-the-nation vote. He pledged to put “an America first candidate in the White House” and said that he planned to appear at a Trump campaign rally in New Hampshire in the coming days.
“Now, going forward, he will have my full endorsement for the presidency. And I think we're going to do the right thing for this country,” he said.
“And so I'm going to ask you, to follow me in taking our America First movement to the next level.” The Harvard and Yale-educated son of Indian immigrants entered the race after making his fortune in the pharmaceutical industry.
The 38-year-old has never held political office and his campaign has at times courted controversy for its endorsement of conspiracy theories.
He promised to end birth-right citizenship and affirmative action and said he would close the Education Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies.
He positioned himself as an outsider willing to develop former President Trump's “America First” agenda with his own personal spin. But his campaign was unable to pull much support away from Mr Trump. Just before Iowa's caucus, Mr Trump offered a rare criticism of Mr Ramaswamy, calling him a “fraud” and telling Republicans that a vote for him would be a vote for the “other side”.
Mr Trump had previously praised the Ohio-native, posting after the fourth Republican debate in December: “Vivek WINS because he thinks l'm great.”
Mr Ramaswamy has been a steadfast defender of Mr Trump's record on the campaign trail, including after Mr Trump's pre-Iowa attack. He had previously offered to pardon Mr Trump from his legal troubles if he won the presidency.
— CutC by bbc.com
