The 38-year-old entrepreneur made the announcement on Tuesday after former US President Donald Trump won the Iowa caucus.

Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has announced that he is dropping out of the 2024 US Presidential race.  The biotech entrepreneur in February announced that he was running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. His decision to drop out of the race for the White House came after a disappointing finish in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses. “As of this moment we are going to suspend this presidential campaign. There’s no path for me to be the next president absent things that we don’t want to see happen in this country,” Ramaswamy said.

Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old born in Ohio to immigrant parents from southern India, was one of the surprises of the 2024 Republican race dominated by former President Trump. He was the second Indian-American to enter the Republican Party’s presidential primary after Nikki Haley. Earlier, he threw his support behind his former competitor, Donald Trump. He had praised Trump as the “best president of the 21st century” in the past, while also urging Republican voters to choose “fresh legs” and “take our America First agenda to the next level.”

The Iowa Caucus formally kicked off the 2024 race to the White House. The political newbie and the youngest candidate in the presidential race, Ramaswamy was trailing on the distant fourth spot with 7.7 per cent of the votes counted. Trump won the Iowa Caucus with 51 percent of the votes, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in second place and Indian-American former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in third place.

Ramaswamy’s decision to drop out of the race comes as a shock to many of his supporters, who had hoped that his outsider status and innovative policy proposals would resonate with voters. However, after Trump’s strong showing in Iowa, Ramaswamy faced an uphill battle to secure the nomination.

The Iowa caucuses are the first major contest of the US presidential primary season, and their results often set the tone for the rest of the campaign. Trump’s victory in Iowa is seen as a significant boost to his campaign and solidifies his position as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

The Republican Party’s front-runner, who had once complimented Ramaswamy for his intelligence, recently accused him of being deceptive, urging the voters not to fall prey to his clever campaign strategies. Ramaswamy responded to the criticism stating he would refrain from retaliating against Trump, considering it harmless teasing. He also went on to assert he had no intentions of settling for the position of the Vice President, as he doesn’t envision himself in a subordinate role.

Ramaswamy’s sudden decision to step away from his campaign that began in February 2023 followed soon after Chris Christie, the ex-governor of New Jersey, declared the end of his presidential race. The conservative Washington Examiner’s Editor-in-Chief, Huge Gurdon, expressed that each presidential election presents a uniquely charming and intelligent candidate that sets themselves apart from the rest. In his view, that candidate for the 2024 election cycle is indeed Ramaswamy.