DES MOINES, Iowa—As the clock slipped past 10 p.m., the crowd grew restless, edging closer to the stage with their heads fixed on the entrance, eagerly awaiting Vivek Ramaswamy’s emergence. He was expected to take to the stage and rally supporters with a rousing speech about truth and the “1776 moment” the nation faces in the 2024 elections.
At 10:15 p.m., a ripple sifted through the crowd at the Surety Hotel in downtown Des Moines. Heads were now drawn to cell phones, a string of dings heralding a sudden burst of bulletins and alerts: ‘Ramaswamy to end his presidential campaign’.
The end did not come as a shock but as a murmur. There was no wailing, no outcry, no grand crash of crushed hopes. Perhaps the end was evident in the size of the crowd itself, which numbered about 100 people. There may have been as many media and campaign staffers on the floor.
And then, at 10:19, Mr. Ramaswamy swept onto the stage amid “USA, USA, USA” chants. He thanked his volunteers and wasted little time in confirming the news alerts and murmurs were true. He was out.
“We founded this campaign on speaking the truth, not just when it is easy, but when it is hard. We’re going to stick to the truth tonight, the hard truth. This is hard for me but it is a hard fact we are going to have to accept,” he began. “We did not achieve the surprise that we wanted to deliver tonight.”
The Republican presidential candidate said he had some announcements to make to “get the business out of the way and then I’m going to tell you where we are going.”
Mr. Ramaswamy continued: “As of this moment, we are going to suspend this presidential campaign. There is no path for me to become the next president absent some things we don’t want to see happen in this country.”
The crowd was hushed. Not a sound.
“There has to be an America First candidate in the White House. As I said from the beginning there were two America First candidates in this race. Earlier tonight, I called [former President] Donald Trump and congratulated him on his victory, and now, going forward, he will have my full endorsement.”
The 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur launched his campaign in February 2023 with little name recognition and deep pockets, spending millions of his own money to fund an underdog campaign that resonated with what many of his supporters believe is the Republican party’s next generation.
His campaign peaked during the summer, at one point edging up to nearly 20 percent in polls. But it ended in the Iowa caucuses with him netting less than 8 percent of the tally, finishing fourth.
“Tomorrow, I will join Donald Trump at a rally in New Hampshire to share our vision for the country’s future,” Mr. Ramaswamy said, calling on his supporters to back President Trump, prompting several to say, “No!”
‘I Want to Cry’
Jacqueline Rieckena and Lily Duncan from West Des Moines arrived at Mr. Ramaswamy’s event earlier, certain that Nikki Haley was in the lead after winning the vote in Precinct 311.“Everywhere we’ve been, Nikki Haley won,” said Ms. Rieckena, a caucus captain for Mr. Ramaswamy, noting the state GOP had extended caucus start times from 7 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
Ms.Duncan said “a lot of first-time caucus-goers” participated in the caucus with “at least 30” switching parties from Democrat to Republican to vote for Ms. Haley.
That was odd, they said, but ultimately had little bearing on the result.
Angie Marie from Des Moines, a first-time caucus-goer, didn’t understand why Mr. Ramaswamy opted to end his campaign.
“I want to cry,” she said. “It’s just the first one. Why stop now?”
She was even more unhappy that he endorsed former President Trump who has “had nothing nice to say about him for the last 72 hours.”
Asked if she would support President Trump, her answer was a sharp “No!”
Matthew Garcia, 34, also a first-time caucus-goer from Des Moines expressed similar sentiments.
An independent who had never engaged much with politics, he said Mr. Ramaswamy was “open-testing hypotheses on how to approach connecting with our generation.” He was impressed by Mr. Ramaswamy’s podcasts and social media discussions.
He doesn’t know who to support now. “I am not committed to the Republican Party. Trump? He disrupts everything. I think he’s holding both parties hostage.”
Wade Justin from Des Moines said what he liked most about Mr. Ramaswamy is “that he was using his own money, putting his own money up and that says something.”
Alyssa Wallace from Des Moines was disappointed “but it’s pretty understandable considering the climate of the race.”
She believes Mr. Ramasawamy should run again. “He’s setting himself up as a Trump alternative” in 2028.
She expressed concern that President Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden will be the oldest two presidential candidates in the nation’s history.
“That makes the vice president [on the tickets] very important,” Ms. Wallace said.
Bharat Nair, who came “up from Texas” to observe the Iowa caucusing—there was also a political science class from the University of Denver in the crowd—said he was “disappointed, a little bit” in Mr. Ramaswamy’s exit from the race.
“It’s not the results we were hoping for but things change,” he said. “It was not God’s will.”
Clint Smith from Des Moines said this was not the end for Mr. Ramaswamy, but the beginning.
“He’s young and he’s now on the radar,” he said. “I think he should run again. I think he will run again.”
