DeSantis Says Good-bye, is Haley Next? Border Deal Still Unclear
Hello everyone and welcome back to another week of Politics Explained! If you’re new, we release short and concise blogs every Friday that recap the happenings of Capitol Hill. This week we’ll be taking a look into Ron DeSantis, the Republican New Hampshire primaries, and a border and Ukraine/Israel aid bill. There’s a lot this week, so let's dive right in!
Earlier this week Ron Desantis posted on X that he decided to drop out of the 2024 Republican Presidential primaries and endorse Donald Trump. This comes after a crushing defeat in the Iowa primaries, where he put significant resources and time into that race. He placed 2nd place in Iowa, significantly closer to Nikki Haley than to Donald Trump. If we rewind to January 2023, DeSantis was leading the field for the Republicans. The DeSantis campaign spent an excessive amount of money, estimated to be around $53 million. Coming into this week, he was predicted to finish 3rd behind Nikki Haley and Donald Trump with only 6% of votes. Now, we’re down to the final Republican battle, where Nikki Haley will face off against Donald Trump in the coming months.
Next up, we take a trip to New Hampshire to look into the Republican presidential primary results and, without much surprise, see Donald Trump winning. This race was vastly different from the Iowa race, by the results being so much closer than Iowa. While Donald Trump won the race, he only won by 10% compared to the almost 30% in Iowa. The final percentages of votes for each candidate was Trump with 54.3% and Haley with 43.3%. Trump gained 12 delegates, while Haley gained 9. If you don’t know what a delegate is, they’re individuals pledged to each candidate who will vote for that candidate at the Republican or Democratic National Conventions* later this year. After the primary, Nikki Haley was heard saying that the race isn’t over yet and there are still many more states to go. She’s said that she will not be on the ballot in Nevada, as Trump is heavily favored there. Instead, she’ll gear up for the following primary in her home state of South Carolina, where she was the governor from 2011-2017. There will be so much more to come on the Presidential Elections this year so stay with us throughout the whole thing!
Finally, in the Senate, Republican members are pushing for a new Ukraine aid bill and border funding with lots of push back from former President Trump. This bill will most likely include President Biden’s request of $110 billion for Ukraine and Israel funding and the Republicans members request for a significant amount of money for the border and asylum workers. Trump has publicly bashed the deal, as the deal steps on some of Trump’s goals if he becomes the President again. Many Republican Senate members are re-thinking the deal after the backlash from Trump.
*Definition of the Week (National Convention): It is where a nominee for either side has to win the majority of delegates to be named the presidential nominee.
