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Vivek Ramaswamy late Monday dropped out of the Republican presidential race and endorsed former President Donald Trump.
The biotech tycoon who ran as the successor to Mr. Trump gave up his White House bid after finishing a distant fourth place in the Iowa caucuses with about 7.7% of the vote.
“This is hard for me,” Mr. Ramaswamy said. “We’ve looked at it every which way and I think it is true that we did not deliver the surprise we wanted tonight.”
He said he faced the “hard truth” that he was not going to be the next president. He said he called Mr. Trump and told him he was dropping out and that the ex-president would have his “full endorsement” going forward.
Mr. Trump dominated the caucuses with a historic 51% share of the vote with about 93% of the results reported.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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