(UnitedVoice.com) – In a little over two months, Republicans will begin voting to choose their 2024 presidential candidate. As the country barrels toward the Iowa presidential caucuses on January 15, the primary field is starting to narrow. In the last full week of October, two more candidates dropped out of the race, and one of them endorsed former President Donald Trump.
New Trump Endorsement
On October 26, Republican primary candidate Larry Elder announced he was suspending his campaign. The 71-year-old was known for running to replace California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) in the 2021 recall election. The Democratic governor beat the recall and Elder. Now, Elder has also failed to win enough support to make a splash in the primary.
In a statement to the press, he said that he made the “difficult decision” to end his campaign after “careful consideration and consultation” with his advisors, and he decided to support Trump. He went on to say the former president was key in “advancing conservative America-first principles and policies” that he believes have benefited the American people.
Elder went on to say he believes Conservatives should unite behind the former president to beat President Joe Biden. The former candidate said the biggest issues facing America are the “crisis of fatherlessness, [and] the dangerous lie that America is systemically racist.” He also wanted to pass a constitutional amendment that limits spending to a percentage of the GDP, in the hopes that it would keep the debt crisis in check. He said he thought his campaign shined a spotlight on those issues.
Honored to have just met with @realDonaldTrump to lend him my endorsement for President. I am grateful for the support I received from so many of you across the country. Statement below: pic.twitter.com/1LE9PMtv7c
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) October 26, 2023
Another One Bites The Dust
Two days after Elder dropped out of the race, former Vice President Mike Pence also threw in the towel. On October 28, Pence attended the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual event and told the crowd that it had become clear to him that it wasn’t his time. He went on to say that “after much prayer and deliberation,” he has “decided to suspend [his] campaign” effective immediately.
Unlike Elder, Pence did not endorse Trump. In fact, one of the reasons the former Indiana governor had a hard time getting his campaign off the ground was because many Republicans felt as though he was being disloyal to his former boss. Pence acknowledged that he was fighting an “uphill battle” but said he has “no regrets.”
Trump is currently leading the presidential race by double digits. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Nikki Haley are second and third behind the former POTUS.
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