Vivek Ramaswamy Drops Out of 2024 Presidential Race After Iowa Caucuses, Endorses ‘America First’ Trump

Following a lackluster performance in the GOP primary in Iowa, GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has finally withdrawn his candidacy. Ramaswamy, who had threatened to disrupt the Republican primaries, withdrew after failing to make his mark in a state where he had invested substantial resources and time. “As of this moment we are going to suspend this presidential campaign,” Ramaswamy said as he concluded his campaign on January 15, per The Guardian, and went on to endorse former president Donald Trump. “There’s no path for me to be the next president absent things that we don’t want to see happen in this country.”

Ramaswamy came in significantly behind Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, placing fourth in Iowa, according to estimates. Ramaswamy received 8% of the Republican caucus vote, per NBC News. Ramaswamy said he would join Trump at a rally in New Hampshire on January 16 and that he had contacted the former President to congratulate him on his win. "There needs to be an America First candidate in this race,” Ramaswamy said. "Going forward, he will have my full endorsement for the presidency."

Ramaswamy was essentially unknown before declaring his candidacy for President, but throughout the summer, he made several appearances on cable news and climbed to the third position in national surveys. Since then, his popularity has decreased, especially in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, as voters have shifted to candidates with more political experience, and Trump has maintained his commanding lead.

Ramaswamy's constant involvement in cultural conflicts and media appearances helped him establish himself as one of the most prominent candidates. Being the youngest candidate for the Republican nomination and the son of immigrants from India, his extreme right-wing opinions were distinctive among the other candidates, who were primarily elderly white males.

Throughout his campaign, Ramaswamy declared that the 'climate change agenda' was a 'hoax,' vowed to boost the output of fossil fuels, and backed a state-mandated abortion prohibition that would last six weeks. He was a staunch opponent of immigration who declared that he would 'universally' deport all illegal immigrants, of whom there are estimated to be 10 million in the US, but he would accept 'darn close to zero' refugees.

But despite Ramaswamy's best attempts to persuade Republican voters that he would be more qualified to further the 'America First' program that he and Trump both supported, his campaign was unable to take much of their support away from Trump, who managed to hold onto the support of Republican voters. He was also unsuccessful in attracting the surge of new Iowan voters that he frequently said would help him win. 

Ramaswamy was more critical of the Republican party during his campaign, emphasizing the distinctions between himself and other candidates who had been affiliated with the party for a longer period. “We’ve become a party of losers at the end of the day,” Ramaswamy said during the third Republican primary debate in November.