The Paul campaign helped convince the Kentucky Republican Party to hold a presidential caucus in March instead of its normal May primary, so that Paul could run for both the White House and re-election to the U.S. Senate.
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Paul, whose campaign has struggled to stick out among a crowded field of GOP candidates, issued a statement saying while he will suspend his bid, “the fight is far from over”.
Paul, 53, a Republican senator from Kentucky and ophthalmologist, finished the Iowa caucuses with 4.5 percent of the vote, a discouraging finish for someone who, just a year earlier, had seemed poised to make a real run at the White House.
The highlight of Paul’s short-lived presidential campaign came during a December debate in Las Vegas when the noted isolationist assailed Christie’s foreign policy proposals. He is up for reelection to the US Senate in November and already has an opponent in Jim Gray, the Democratic mayor of Lexington.
In addition to the three front runners, other Republicans in the race include: Dr. Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, business woman Carly Fiorina, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Pennsylvania Sen.
Later that morning, Paul’s official Twitter page posted a minute-and-a-half video montage of clips and sound bytes from the 2016 campaign trail.
Last year, Senator Paul asked the Kentucky GOP to switch from a primary to a presidential caucus, so he could appear on the ballot as a Senator and in the caucus as a presidential candidate.
The libertarian-leaning senator finished a distant fifth in the Hawkeye State on Monday evening, unable to replicate the strong coalition that his father, former Texas Sen.
“If he does nothing about it that means he agrees with it”, he told Fox News. Ted Cruz – who won the caucus – businessman Donald Trump, Florida Sen. Though Huffines has deep ties to the Paul family, his political rise was fueled by numerous same tea party supporters who pushed Cruz to prominence.
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“I’m doing this to be the president of the United States and we’re going to go all the way to Cleveland” and the Republican nominating convention, she said on a phone call with donors.
