US Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday bowed to pressure from the party establishment and signed a pledge not to run as an independent candidate in next year’s November presidential election.
“I see no circumstances under which I would tear up that pledge,” the real-estate magnate told reporters at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Trump had previously refused to rule out a third-party bid if the Republican Party did not treat him fairly.
His pledge of loyalty on Thursday was a victory for the Republican National Committee (RNC) in its efforts to rein in the billionaire, who leads opinion polls, but has upset mainstream Republicans with his brash style and unusually personal attacks on rivals.
Almost two months after reaching the top of opinion polls among Republicans, Trump has come under sustained fire for the first time from one of his main rivals for the nomination, former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
Nudging Trump toward signing the pledge was a weeks-long effort by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and other officials, an RNC official said. Priebus met Trump on Thursday.
“This gets the proverbial elephant out of the room and allows the focus to be on winning the White House and taking the prospect of a third party off the table,” the official said.
Reuters/Ipsos polling shows Trump with support among nearly 31 percent of self-identified Republicans as of Tuesday, with Bush at nearly 12 percent, behind former neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
US political parties at the state level often ask candidates to sign loyalty pledges, but this is believed to be the first time the Republican Party has done it nationally.
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