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By Andrew Stanton
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' 2024 presidential aspirations came to an end over the weekend after he struggled to overcome conservatives coalescing around former President Donald Trump amid his legal troubles.
DeSantis dropped out of the Republican presidential primary Sunday evening, saying he does not see a "clear path" to win following his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. He then endorsed Trump. His announcement came just days before the second nominating contest in New Hampshire, where polls showed him placing a distant third behind Trump and former United Nations Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley—the last two prominent Republicans left in the race.
When he entered the race in May, DeSantis was viewed as the Republican with the greatest chance of beating Trump, as some in the party feared the former president's legal strife and myriad controversies could turn away swing voters in critical battleground states. But his campaign struggled to gain traction as conservatives continued to flock to Trump.
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DeSantis' conservative stance on LGBTQ+ rights, abortion and the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside his major reelection victory in the 2022 midterms, helped him emerge as a popular figure among conservatives. But DeSantis struggled to translate that popularity into a successful presidential campaign.
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Trump held a substantial lead over DeSantis from the start, but polls started trending in his direction around April 2023—the month he was indicted in the first of four criminal cases, and weeks before DeSantis even formally entered the race. This indictment, handed up from a Manhattan jury, centers around District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation of an alleged hush money payment made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
The former president has maintained his innocence, accusing Bragg and other prosecutors of targeting him for political purposes. This sentiment became a conservative rallying cry, and some political experts say Trump's indictments helped him consolidate support in the presidential race.
Robert Y. Shapiro, professor of political science at Columbia University, told Newsweek the indictments are one reason DeSantis' campaign struggled to gain traction.
"I see the problem as less of the campaign capabilities and more of for one, Trump continuing to get a great share of the media attention largely due to the indictments, which kept Trump's base intact and perhaps picked up new supporters or garnering old supporters who told pollsters they were undecided," Shapiro said.
He said the indictments "took any momentum away from DeSantis," who he said did not help himself by defending the former president.
Shapiro also said DeSantis' efforts to "out-Trump Trump" struggled to land, as he was "no substitute" for the former president, and that he was too hesitant to directly critique Trump.
Grant Davis Reeher, professor of political science at Syracuse University, told Newsweek the indictments served as an "inflection point" for DeSantis' presidential aspirations.
"I'd view them more as an 'inflection point,' which in a way served to call the question on the former president among primary voters, and the base of the party answered 'yes.' It didn't change minds, as much as it energized," Reeher said.
Still, he said DeSantis' campaign was troubled from the start by "the murkiness of what exactly he was offering Republican primary voters."
While DeSantis offered a "better articulated and less inflammatory version" of Trump's agenda without the legal baggage, it remained a question as to why Republican voters would switch candidates, Reeher said.
"He was bound in a strange Gordian Knot—he only became a national figure because he was similar to Trump in many ways, but not Trump. Smoother, more refined, younger, better informed on the issues, but still aggressive on policy and willing to fight the cultural battles the Right seems to care about. Is that enough to persuade a loyal Republican voter, who is weighing that against a proven battler? Apparently not," Reeher said.
Newsweek reached out to DeSantis' political team for comment via email on Monday.
DeSantis' 'War on Woke' Helped Him Build National Profile
DeSantis' embracing of right-wing culture war issues helped propel him to national prominence, sparking speculation he could be the Republican best suited to successfully challenge Trump in the election.
His handling of the COVID-19 pandemic drew praise from conservatives who opposed widespread lockdowns and vaccine mandates, though sparked criticism from Democrats and some public health leaders.
He became a leading conservative on issues such as LGBTQ+ rights and abortion. Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, which limited discussions of LGBTQ+ identities in classrooms, inspired Republicans across the country to introduce and pass similar legislation. His stance on social issues and opposition to so-called "woke ideologies" at times caused him to clash with business interests in the state, such as Disney, and at times alienated some more traditional conservatives.
Florida under his leadership was among the Republican-led states to limit abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, despite abortion emerging as a particularly difficult issue for Republicans.
His performance in the 2022 midterms only helped bolster his aspirations. Despite Florida's status as a swing state that Trump won by roughly 3 percentage points in 2020, DeSantis easily won reelection, by about 19 points, in 2022. His race was a major victory for Republicans on a night that otherwise yielded disappointing results for the party.
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