LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas.- Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday abandoned his long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination, ending a candidacy that was a throwback to an earlier era of the Republican Party but ultimately failed to resonate in a party now dominated by Donald Trump.
Hutchinson’s departure came a day after he finished sixth in the first Iowa caucuses, well behind Trump and other leading rivals but also behind Ryan Binkley, a pastor who failed to qualify for either debate. Hutchinson was the last remaining Republican candidate in the race and was set to take on Trump directly.
“I congratulate Donald J. Trump on his victory last night in Iowa and the other candidates who competed and won the support of the delegates,” Hutchinson said in a statement. “Today I will suspend my campaign for president and return to Arkansas. The message of being a principled, experienced Republican and telling the truth about the current front-runner didn’t sell in Iowa.”
Hutchinson’s campaign manager, Alison Williams, said she was not issuing any endorsements at this time.
During the campaign, he failed to register more than 1 percentage point in most polls and drew sparse crowds even as the Republican presidential field shrank from more than a dozen candidates to a handful. Another competitor, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, dropped out of the race Monday night after finishing fourth in Iowa, behind Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.
Hutchinson remained in the race even when better-funded and better-known candidates, such as former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, dropped out last year. On Tuesday, Hutchinson said he supported the campaign he ran.
“I answered every question, warned the Republican Party about the risks in 2024, and presented hope for the future of our country,” he said in his statement.
During the first debate, Hutchinson was booed by some audience members when he said he would not support Trump if the former president were convicted in any of his four criminal cases, and questioned whether Trump was disqualified from holding office for his role in inciting the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
“I’m not going to support someone who has been convicted of a felony or who is disqualified under our Constitution,” Hutchinson said.
He was ineligible for the next four presidential debates, an unwelcome development that denied him necessary exposure.
Before entering the race, he called another Trump run for the White House a “worst-case scenario” for the Republican Party and said the former president’s call to rescind parts of the Constitution was hurting the country.
He objected to the Republican National Committee’s requirement that candidates support the eventual nominee to qualify for the debate stage, although he ultimately signed the pledge. He said the party should instead require aspirants to promise not to run as third-party candidates.
Hutchinson, whose candidacy dates back to an earlier era of the Republican Party, preferred dry political discussions or Sunday talk show appearances to boisterous rallies or social media fights. Although he has been a fixture in Arkansas politics for decades, he was little known outside of his home state.
He was displaced by other, better-known candidates who had competitive appeals to Republican voters. His criticism of Trump was overshadowed by similar comments from Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey.
After Christie dropped out of the race days before the Iowa caucuses, Hutchinson praised him for telling “the hard truth” and “highlighting the risks of a Donald Trump presidency,” noting the high political price he paid.
“As for me,” Hutchinson said in a statement before the caucuses, “I am competing for votes in the Iowa caucuses and plan to exceed expectations here. “I remain the only candidate who has not promised a pardon to Donald Trump and my voice remains fundamental in this race.”
Hutchinson joins Ramaswamy, Christie, Pence, Scott, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, radio host Larry Elder, businessman Perry Johnson, former Texas Congressman Will Hurd and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez to suspend his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
He formally launched his campaign in April in Bentonville, the northwest Arkansas city where he started out as a lawyer and first ran unsuccessfully for elected office.
Hutchinson had used the city, which is also home to retail giant Walmart, to present himself as a pro-business conservative. He had contrasted that with DeSantis, who has been involved in a bitter public dispute with Disney in Florida.
Hutchinson, who finished his two terms as Arkansas governor in 2023, is also a former congressman who served as one of the House managers who prosecuted the impeachment case against then-President Bill Clinton.
Previously, Hutchinson served in President George W. Bush’s White House as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and as deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He also was a federal prosecutor in Arkansas in the 1980s.
Hutchinson touted his law enforcement experience as unique, especially in addressing issues such as immigration and border security. She also cited him when he discussed Trump’s legal problems.
Hutchinson, who had led a National Rifle Association task force that called for armed and trained school staff after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, met a lukewarm reception when he appeared before the NRA’s annual convention. group after launching their offer. She earned at least one cry of obscenity from the Trump-friendly crowd after suggesting that President Joe Biden was “praying” for a rematch with Trump in 2024 and declaring, “We don’t need a repeat of 2020.”
He had also noted his record of enacting multiple abortion restrictions as governor, including a near-total ban that went into effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But Hutchinson stopped short of saying whether he would support a six- or 15-week ban as president before telling conservatives he would sign a federal restriction into law.