Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson suspended his 2024 presidential campaign Tuesday morning, just one day after the Iowa caucuses, in which he garnered 0.2% support and finished in sixth place.
“My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front-runner did not sell in Iowa,” he said in a statement. “I stand by the campaign I ran. I answered every question, sounded the warning to the GOP about the risks in 2024, and presented hope for our country’s future.”
The former governor had little hope of winning the Iowa caucuses or the GOP nomination. He regularly polled at 1% or less in national and early nominating state polls.
Yet Hutchinson had refused calls to drop out of the race last year claiming he would last through Monday night’s Iowa caucuses.
And after the first GOP primary debate in late August, he never again qualified for another debate, including last week’s CNN primary debate in Des Moines, Iowa.
Hutchinson is the second candidate to drop out of the field after biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his campaign late Monday night and endorsed former President Donald Trump.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out last week hours before former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) faced off onstage for their sole one-on-one primary debate.
Hutchinson did not endorse a candidate but did congratulate Trump on his decisive victory.
“I congratulate Donald J. Trump for his win last night in Iowa and to the other candidates who competed and garnered delegate support,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson was critical of Trump’s ongoing legal problems—stemming from 91 criminal indictments, a civil fraud case, and a sexual abuse and defamation case involving writer E. Jean Carroll—as he campaigned for the White House, unlike his other primary rivals who eschewed harshly attacking Trump.
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His attacks did little to stop Trump from thumping his rivals on Monday where Trump won by 30 percentage points, the most of any contested Republican Iowa caucuses. The former president received 51% of the vote, followed by DeSantis at a distant 21% and Haley at 19%.