Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson ends Republican campaign for president after finishing 6th in Iowa

Former two-term Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is bowing out of the race for the White House after finishing sixth in the Iowa caucuses.

Hutchinson on Tuesday suspended his long-shot campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

‘I am suspending my campaign for President and driving back to Arkansas. My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front runner did not sell in Iowa,’ Hutchinson said in a statement.

He emphasized that ‘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.’

According to the unofficial  tabulation, Hutchinson won less than 200 votes out of more than 110,000 cast in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses.

Former President Donald Trump won a resounding victory on Monday night, topping 50% and winning  a majority of the vote and shattering the previous margin of victory in a the Iowa GOP caucuses as he cruised to a crucial first victory as he aims to recapture the White House in November’s election.

Hutchinson put his criticism of Trump front-and-center in his 2024 campaign.

At a major GOP presidential nomination cattle call in Florida in early November, Hutchinson was jeered for over a minute by the crowd after reiterating that ‘there is a significant likelihood that Donald Trump will be found guilty by a jury on a felony offense next year.’ 

‘That may or may not happen. Before you vote in March and it might not make any difference to you, but it will make a difference for our chances to attract independent voters in November. It will make a difference for those down ticket races for Congress and Senate, and it will weaken the GOP for decades to come. As a party, we must support the rule of law,’ he emphasized.

Hutchinson, a former federal attorney turned two-term congressman who served as Drug Enforcement Administration administrator and Department of Homeland Security undersecretary during then-President George W. Bush’s administration, launched his presidential campaign in late April in his hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

While he showcased his credentials as a conservative whose ‘mettle has been tested’ over his decades of political service, Hutchinson struggled with fundraising and his poll numbers never rose above the low single digits. 

Hutchinson reached the polling and donor thresholds at the last minute to qualify for August’s first GOP presidential nomination debate, but failed to make the stage at the ensuing showdowns.

And he struggled to stay relevant in a Republican presidential primary dominated by Trump and other rivals with great name recognition and larger war chests.

In late October, his campaign manager parted ways with Hutchinson over disagreements on the feasibility of a pathway towards the nomination. But Hutchinson marched on, with the help of just one or two staffers.

Hutchinson is the latest Republican presidential candidate to drop out of a race that now only has three major candidates left – Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who also struggled with fundraising, suspended his presidential campaign on Oct. 28, during his address to the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina ended his bid in November and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum suspended his campaign in early December.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out last week, and multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy called it quits Monday night after finishing fourth in Iowa’s caucuses.

Four lesser known candidates who all failed to qualify for the debates had already suspended their campaigns.

There are former CIA spy and former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami, Florida, business leader and quality control expert Perry Johnson, and 2021 California gubernatorial recall election candidate and former conservative talk radio host Larry Elder.