Vivek Ramaswamy Earns Trump's Praise After Dropping Out of Race

Following Monday's Iowa caucus, Republican presidential nominee Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed former President Donald Trump.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Ramaswamy announced he would end his 2024 presidential campaign after a disappointing result in Iowa's Republican caucuses.

The Iowa caucus showed Trump's projected win by more than half the vote, according to CNN, the Associated Press, and Fox News.

"So proud of our team. Press conference at 10:15 CT at Surety Hotel in Des Moines. We will livestream on X," Ramaswamy wrote on X.

In his live stream, Ramaswamy announced his support for Trump, adding that "we're gonna do the right thing for this country."

"As I've said since the beginning, there are two America first candidates in this race and I called Donald Trump to tell him that. I congratulated him on his victory and now going forward he will have my full endorsement for the presidency, and I think we're gonna do the right thing for this country," Ramaswamy said.

Newsweek has reached out to Ramaswamy's campaign and Trump's campaign via email for comment.

Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, tried to emphasize "America First" policies on his campaign trail, a stance that has proven popular with supporters of Trump.

In addition, Ramaswamy has also gone out of his way to lavish praise on Trump during his campaign, describing him as the "best president" of the 21st century.

However, in his livestream on X, Ramaswamy said he is "very concerned" about what this year has in store and hopes his Republican presidential counterparts, Florida Governor Ron Desantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, follow in his footsteps to drop out and endorse Trump.

In response to his announcement, conservative founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk took to X to express his support of Ramaswamy's move to drop out.

"Congratulations to Vivek Ramaswamy. For a man with near zero name recognition, he showed that he belongs as a voice on the political stage, and he did a tremendous job shifting the narrative on DEI and other critical issues facing this country," Kirk wrote on X.

Kirk continued by reiterating Ramaswamy's urge for DeSantis and Haley to do the same and endorse Trump.

"Now, having made his point, he has dropped out to make sure no more time or resources are wasted on a primary that is over. It's time the other candidates did the same," Kirk added.

Despite dropping out, Ramaswamy poured millions of dollars of his own money into the campaign and held the most public campaign events out of all of his GOP rivals, including over 300 in Iowa, hitting all 99 counties in the state.

Update 1/16/2024 12:17 a.m. ET: This article was updated with more information.