Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush dropped out of the Republican presidential race on Saturday evening after struggling in early primary states, including in the South Carolina vote.
“Tonight I am suspending my campaign,” he told a crowd of supporters.
Haunted by his famous last name and perpetually stuck in the shadows of his anti-establishment rivals, Jeb Bush repeatedly confronted rejection by voters and frustrating setbacks throughout the 2016 presidential race.
In South Carolina Saturday night Bush suspended his White House campaign and acknowledged a painful reality: The country was not interested in a third President Bush.
Bush’s disappointing finish in the Palmetto State became the final straw for his floundering campaign. The end was all the more personal because the former Florida governor had poured his energy into the state, invoking his family’s political legacy at one campaign stop after another and facing down voters who questioned his campaign strategy.
As they zigzagged the state, Bush and his surrogates reminded voters that the Bush clan is popular — even beloved — in South Carolina. It gave important primary victories to Bush’s father and brother, and George W. Bush remains very popular among Republicans here.
But at his primary night party at a hotel ballroom in Columbia, an emotional Bush acknowledged that there was nothing more he could do.
“The people of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken and I really respect their decision, so tonight I am suspending my campaign,” Bush said, as the audience gasped.
Bush, who turned 63 earlier this month, kicked off his candidacy last June as the front-runner in a crowded field of candidates.
His brand was to be the candidate that Republicans thought they needed after Mitt Romney’s 2012 loss: an experienced governor from a swing state who could help expand the GOP base by appealing to Latinos and craft a narrative of a more compassionate GOP. Bush’s mantra was to be the “joyful” candidate.
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