Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed former President Donald Trump for president on Wednesday after former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley dropped out of the race following a drubbing in the Super Tuesday primary states.
The endorsement from McConnell — who is stepping down from his leadership role in November — comes as the Republican National Committee declared that Trump is now the party’s presumptive nominee for president.
“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States,” McConnell said in a statement. “It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support. During his Presidency, we worked together to accomplish great things for the American people including tax reform that supercharged our economy and a generational change of our federal judiciary – most importantly, the Supreme Court.”
McConnell added that he would “look forward to the opportunity of switching from playing defense against the terrible policies the Biden administration has pursued to a sustained offense geared towards making a real difference in improving the lives of the American people.”
McConnell was pressed about his decision to endorse Trump for president given some of his past criticism of the former president.
McConnell responded: “I said in February of 2021, shortly after the attack on the Capitol, that I would support President Trump if he were the nominee of our party and he obviously is going to be the nominee of our party.”
Haley announced Wednesday morning that she was dropping out of the race after only winning 1 state and Washington, D.C. However, during her speech, she did not endorse Trump, despite having previously pledged to do so. She said over the weekend that she no longer felt bound to honor her promise.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was Trump’s main competitor for most of the primary season, endorsed Trump when he announced that he was dropping out of the race following a second place in the Iowa Caucuses in January.