Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced he would be suspending his presidential campaign Friday at the Eagle Forum conference in Missouri.
“When I gave my life to Christ, I said, ‘Your ways are greater than my ways. Your will superior to mine.’ Today I submit that His will remains a mystery, but some things have become clear,” Perry said.
“That is why today I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States.”
The 17-candidate field, led in recent polls by political outsiders Donald Trump and Ben Carson, now drops to 16 candidates.
“We have a tremendous field — the best in a generation — so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands, and as long as we listen to the grassroots, the cause of conservatism will be too,” Perry said Friday.
Perry made headlines, briefly, for being among the first in the race to attack Donald Trump as he rocketed to frontrunner status. He said he was “offended” by Trump’s comments about Mexico sending rapists and drug dealers to cross the border. After Trump’s comments about the war record of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) being less impressive than people who were not captured, Perry called on Trump to leave the race, saying the attack made him unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.
Although not mentioning Trump by name, Perry saved his toughest words on Trump for his exit speech. “We can secure the border and reform our immigration system without inflammatory rhetoric, without base appeals that divide us based on race, culture and creed… Demeaning people of Hispanic heritage is not just ignorant, it betrays the example of Christ. We can enforce our laws and our borders, and we can love all who live within our borders, without betraying our values,” Perry said.
This was Perry’s second shot at the nomination. The first time around he entered the race as a conservative governor of a large state with a surging economy (credit for which could not reliably be given to Perry) and initially caused a spike of excitement. Yet Perry’s boomlet faded quickly after his campaign faltered following a disastrous debate performance wherein he failed to name all three intended federal agencies he wanted to disband. After 54 seconds of awkward mind-searching, he finished his search with a famous “oops.” Even well into the next year, Perry could remember only two of the agencies on the chopping block — Commerce and Interior — but not the third (either Energy or Education).
This time around, Perry entered the race earlier, and assumedly better-prepared — but still under indictment. Fundraising woes combined with a much larger field as well as the candidate’s own missteps to help doom his campaign to low poll numbers and an uninspiring performance at the undercard debate last month.
Despite never reaching the top tier of candidates, Perry garnered national attention for a range of extreme views. He reached out to voters of color by trying to sweep under the rug his extremely conservative record on voter ID, reproductive rights, the death penalty, and immigration.
After the church shooting in Charleston, SC, Perry called the deaths of nine churchgoers an “accident” and criticized the Obama administration’s choice to talk about gun control measures. He said he would oppose a new Boy Scouts policy allowing gay Scout masters, and that with Roe vs. Wade still the law of the land the anti-choice movement could only stop “one woman at a time.” He has some surprising beliefs about the U.S. Constitution. He said it should not be a surprise that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own people, because Assad “knows” President Obama has not secured the U.S. border with Mexico.
“I share this news with no regrets,” Perry said Friday. “It has been a privilege and an honor to travel this country, to speak with the American people about their hopes and dreams, to see a sense of optimism prevalent despite a season of cynical politics.”