Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on Monday ended his United States presidential election campaign.

Ramaswamy, a millionaire former biotech executive, said that he was endorsing former President Donald Trump in the presidential election scheduled for November. He has been an admirer of Trump.

“Now, going forward, he [Trump] will have my full endorsement for the presidency,” Ramaswamy told reporters. “And I think we’re going to do the right thing for this country.”

The 38-year-old, born to immigrants from India, had launched his candidacy in February 2023 for the Republican Party’s nomination in the presidential polls.

Ramaswamy, who has never held public office, initially managed to gain attention among Republican voters with his speeches on placing the US’ interests first, his opinions on immigration and through his focus on social media for his campaign.

He had supported state-level bans on abortion after six weeks, opposed affirmative action and promised to shut down parts of the US federal government, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Education.

On the foreign policy front, Ramaswamy had opposed extending the membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, a military alliance, to Ukraine. He has said that Ukraine should make territorial concessions to Russia to end the war in eastern Europe.

However, recent opinion polling had shown Ramaswamy trailing Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, within the Republican Party in the presidential race.

Ramaswamy’s announcement came after initial results of the party’s caucuses in Iowa showed him ranked fourth with just 7.7% of the votes on Monday. Caucuses are primary rounds of polling within a political party to determine which candidate secures the party’s presidential election nomination.

Trump has won the Iowa caucuses, giving him a strong start in the presidential race.

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