Vivek Ramaswamy quits US Presidential race after Donald Trump wins Iowa Caucus
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Indian-American tech entrepreneur, has announced that he is dropping out of the 2024 Republican presidential race.
Ramaswamy, the youngest candidate and a political newbie in the presidential race was trailing on the distant fourth spot with seven percent of the votes counted. The 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur told his supporters on Monday night that he is ending his campaign after a dismal finish in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses.
Ramaswamy has ruled out the possibility of him being the Vice President, saying he would not do well in a number two position in August last year.
Ramaswamy also endorsed former US President Donald Trump who won the crucial Iowa caucuses.
“As of this moment, we are going to suspend this presidential campaign. Earlier tonight I called Donald Trump to tell him that I congratulate him on his victory, and now going forward, you will have my full endorsement for the presidency,” The Hill reported Ramaswamy as saying.
Trump, America’s twice-impeached former president facing more than 90 criminal charges, emerged triumphant in Iowa, solidifying his position as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
The Republican frontrunner, who has always praised Ramaswamy as a “smart guy” and a “very intelligent person”, recently slammed the political newcomer as “very sly” and asked voters not to get “duped” by his “deceitful campaign tricks”.
Ramaswamy said he is not going to criticize Trump in response to his attack, which he called a “friendly fire“.
The exit of the anti-woke crusader, who launched his campaign bid in February 2023, comes not long after former New Jersey governor Chris Christie announced he was dropping his White House bid.
Huge Gurdon, editor-in-chief of the conservative publication Washington Examiner, wrote that every presidential election throws up an “interesting candidate” who is “evidently intelligent, highly unconventional, and less like any of the others than they are like each other”.
Born to immigrant parents from India, he made millions as a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and wrote a book slamming woke to test the waters for a plunge into politics.
He was clearly the star of the first Republican debate as he forced himself into most of the conversation, which included sharp jabs from Christie, who said he sounded like ChatGPT.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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