With the Republican presidential field winnowed down to one, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made his endorsement on Wednesday.
“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, according to The Washington Post.
“It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support,” McConnell said.
McConnell’s statement of support came only after former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she was dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
The statement leaped over the vast chasm of hard feelings between the two men to recall what went right before irreconcilable differences took place on the subjects of the 2020 election and the Capitol incursion.
“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 said.
Congratulations to President Trump on becoming the presumptive Republican nominee!
We must unite to defeat Joe Biden and it is clear Republican voters are ready to rally around President Trump to do just that. pic.twitter.com/BrJIrJ52zu
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) March 6, 2024
“I 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,” the statement said.
McConnell adviser Josh Holmes and Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita had been working to bring about an endorsement, according to the Washington Examiner, which cited two sources it did not name.
Even before the endorsement, Trump was trying to bring the GOP together as he turns to focus on the contest against President Joe Biden.
"We have a great Republican Party with tremendous talent," Trump said Tuesday night, according to ABC.
"And we want to have unity, and we're going to have unity, and it's going to happen very quickly,” he said.
In a Truth Social post after the results of the Super Tuesday voting were in, Trump wrote that he would "like to invite all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation. BIDEN IS THE ENEMY, HE IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
We must beat Joe Biden and get this country back on track. Donald Trump has my support.
— Joni Ernst (@joniernst) March 6, 2024
NBC noted that Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who was the only member of the Senate GOP leadership not to publicly back Trump, did so Wednesday.
Haley did not endorse Trump in her exit speech, according to the New York Post.
“In all likelihood, Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee when our party convention meets in July. I congratulate him and wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America’s president,” she said.
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and I hope he does that. At its best politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away," she said.
