January 21 - 2024 campaign updates

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who entered the Republican presidential primary as Donald Trump’s greatest threat, announced Sunday he is ending his White House bid nearly a week after his underwhelming performance in Iowa.

In a video on X, DeSantis said there was no clear path to presidential success for his campaign.

“If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it, but I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign,” DeSantis said.

“Winston Churchill once remarked that success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. While this campaign has ended, the mission continues down here in Florida. We will continue to show the country, how to lead. Thank you and God bless."

It’s a devastating blow to the promising career of a once-rising GOP star, and his failure to reach the lofty expectation of his candidacy has already sparked a wave of second-guessing from close allies and advisers. Some believe DeSantis took too long to attack Trump. Others think his team underestimated former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

More remain convinced that there was nothing DeSantis could have done to wrestle the party from Trump’s loyal and sizable followers.

DeSantis is in Florida tonight following his decision to suspend his campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

CNN's Jessica Dean and Kit Maher contributed to this report.

Video: Dana Bash calls it a stunning decline

As we approach the New Hampshire primary, here’s a look at the participation rules for Republican nominating contests between now and the end of March.

Thirty-six states and territories will hold Republican nominating contests between New Hampshire on Tuesday and Louisiana on March 23. 

Of those, 11 are closed, meaning only registered party members can participate (although some allow party switching on the day of the contest), and 22 are either open to all voters or semi-open, meaning that Republicans and unaffiliated voters can participate.

In many states with open primaries, voters don’t formally register with a party with the state. Information for three contests isn’t currently available.

While the early states are important for building momentum, the bulk of the delegates will be awarded in March. 

By the end of Super Tuesday, on March 5, 1,205 of the Republican convention’s 2,429 delegates will have been awarded, or 99% of the 1,215 needed to win the nomination. 

Former President Donald Trump defended his mocking of GOP rival Nikki Haley’s given name, telling Fox News in an interview that aired Sunday that it’s “a little bit of a takeoff on her name … wherever she may come from.”

Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants and was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa. She has gone by “Nikki” since her childhood and took her husband Michael Haley’s last name after they married.

Trump first referred to Haley’s first name by misspelling it as “Nimrada” in a post to his social media platform Truth Social last week and later referred to her as “Nimbra,” in the latest examples of him using racist dog whistles to attack his opponents.

“I do that with a lot of people, like (former Arkansas Gov. Asa) Hutchinson. I mean, he was polling at zero for one year, and I called him — rather than Asa, I called him Aida Hutchinson, and it just felt good to me,” Trump told Brett Baier during an interview on the sidelines of his rally in Manchester on Saturday.

During the interview, Trump also responded to Haley’s claim that the name-calling is a sign the former president feels threatened by her, arguing he’s “not concerned with her at all.”

President Joe Biden on Sunday latched on to Donald Trump confusing Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when talking about the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Biden, in a post on X, said, "I don’t agree with Nikki Haley on everything, but we agree on this much: She is not Nancy Pelosi."

The post included a video of Haley's response to Trump's confusion and a number of other instances of Trump appearing or sounding incoherent. 

Biden’s campaign has been ramping up its portrayals of Trump as confused, rambling or weakened mentally. It’s a strategy that appears at least in part designed to blunt attacks on Biden for his age.  

The New Hampshire Republican presidential primary is just two days away, and representatives for the major candidates were busy Sunday with TV appearances and campaign events.

Here's a roundup of recent comments from key players:

DeSantis surrogate Rep. Massie says, “We never had high expectations for New Hampshire anyway”

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a surrogate for Ron DeSantis’ campaign, said Sunday the Florida governor “never had high expectations for New Hampshire anyway,” after a new CNN poll showed him standing at just 6%, below the 10% minimum support he would need to win delegates in the Granite State, per the Republican Party’s rules.

When asked whether DeSantis canceled his appearances on the Sunday shows because he did not want to talk about his “dire” poll numbers, Massie focused his attention on former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who stands with 39% support among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire to Donald Trump's 50%.

Massie said Haley is “going to miss expectations and not even win her own state.”

Haley surrogate Rep Norman: Trump is attacking Haley because “he knows she is a serious threat”

Haley campaign surrogate Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina said Trump is escalating attacks against the former South Carolina governor “because she’s gaining in the polls and he knows she is a serious threat,” adding, “it’s a two-person race now.”

Norman is one of the South Carolina’s notable Republicans still sticking with Haley, even after South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott recently threw his support behind Trump. The state's governor, Henry McMaster, has also endorsed the former president, as has Sen. Lindsey Graham. 

Norman credited his pivot to supporting Haley over Trump to her youth, telling Fox News on Sunday, “She’s got the ‘it’ factor.” 

Trump surrogate Sen. Vance says Haley "just hasn’t faced" attacks that Trump has

Trump campaign surrogate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio brushed off voter concerns that the former president has too much baggage and argued that Haley is “the candidate the Democrats haven’t teed off on.”

“Nikki does have baggage, she just hasn’t faced the onslaught of years of media attacks, of super PAC attacks, that Donald Trump has faced,” Vance said.

As for the upcoming contest in New Hampshire, a state that allows independents to participate in the primary process, Vance accused some of those voters of being “liberals” who moved to New Hampshire from Massachusetts and insinuated Haley’s campaign strategy is “getting liberals to vote for you in a Republican primary,” adding “it doesn’t work nationally.” 

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said abortion is “on this ballot for all of us” in 2024 and that it wouldn’t hurt for President Joe Biden to speak on the issue more. 

“If a Donald Trump is president, or any of the people on the Republican side right now, unfortunately, they are going to promote an abortion ban for all of us,” she said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. 

The Democratic governor reiterated her support — and the president’s — for legal abortion rights. But she said “I think it would be good” if Biden were more vocal about the issue.

“I think people want to know that this is a president that is fighting. And I think he has said that, to use maybe more blunt language, maybe that would be helpful. But that's his position. And that's why I am absolutely confident that when people see this matchup and really understand the stakes of this upcoming election, that, too, could be a motivator for people to come out and vote.”

The Biden campaign is aiming to put reproductive rights front and center in the 2024 race, CNN reported, including with events headlined by the president and vice president, and beginning with an abortion-focused ad featuring stark, emotional testimony from a woman personally affected by a state abortion ban who lays the blame directly on former President Donald Trump.

New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan said Sunday the Democratic National Committee made a “terrible decision” by not including President Joe Biden on the state's Democratic primary ballot.

Hassan said there is a “passionate commitment to democracy” on the ground in New Hampshire despite Biden's being a write-in candidate.

Hassan added that Democrats are optimistic Biden will still do well in the state.

“Write-in campaigns are really tough, but we are feeling really good about what we're seeing on the ground,” Hassan said. “But again, write-in campaigns are tough — but that's why it's so important for Democrats and Independents, given the stakes in this election, to go to the polls on Tuesday, go down the list, fill in the circle for write-in and write in Joe Biden's name.”  

Rep. Anne McLane Kuster of New Hampshire called the move “shortsighted” as she made the case for why New Hampshire should have remained the first in the nation primary for Democratic politics. 

“I think it’s something that could’ve been avoided and we certainly did everything that we could to make the case,” Kuster told CNN. “The New Hampshire primary is part of a rich tradition in Democratic politics of a big tent.”  

When asked if she was worried this could hurt Biden electorally come November, Kuster warned that it could put the state’s four electoral votes at risk. 

“By the way, four electoral voters but they’re precious, if Al Gore had had the four electoral votes, he wouldn't have needed Florida to win the presidency. So this could be a very close election next November,” she said.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley continued on Sunday to cast doubt on former President Donald Trump's mental fitness, denying that doing so is "disrespectful."

"There have been multiple things," the former South Carolina governor told CBS's "Face the Nation," listing off recent Trump gaffes including his saying that President Joe Biden would get the country into World War II; that he ran against former President Barack Obama; and that Haley interfered with Capitol security on January 6, appearing to confuse her with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"Look, I don't know if he was confused. I don't know what happened. But it should be enough to send us a warning sign," she continued. Haley also claimed Biden is "very different than he was two years ago."

"Are we really gonna go into a situation where we have wars around the world and we're trying to prevent war, and we're gonna have someone who we can or can't be sure that they're gonna get confused?" she asked, adding "It's a real issue. That's not being disrespectful. It's just a fact."

Pressed whether she ever questioned Trump's mental fitness when she served in his cabinet, she answered, "I called him out if he was doing something wrong."

"But this is different. I mean, we're seeing he's just not at the same level he was in 2016. I think we're seeing some of that decline," she said.

Michigan Democrats are concerned about President Joe Biden’s standing in their critical swing state as the 2024 presidential election looks increasingly like a Biden-Trump rematch. 

Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan told CNN’s Manu Raju there’s “no question” that “we’ve got work to do” as Democrats face a potential enthusiasm problem with Biden on the top of the ticket. 

And Rep. Hillary Scholten, who represents Michigan’s third district, acknowledged concerns about Biden’s polling and said that “absolutely” she believes he needs to be visiting the state more as the election goes into full gear. 

“You know, obviously we see the polls and they’re not good. But you know, we, we see a trend happening particularly in the west side of the state where individuals are increasingly rejecting the type of extremism that you, is embodied in today’s Republican party,” Scholten said. 

Scholten also said that Biden can “absolutely not” win the presidency without Michigan, adding: “And I don’t think he can win without West Michigan.”