Asa Hutchinson drops primary bid following disappointing caucus results

The Former Arkansas Governor announced he would suspend his campaign on Tuesday morning.

January 16, 2024

Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson talks with members of the media after Gov. Kim Reynolds Fair-Side Chats during the Iowa State Fair at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced he suspended his Republican primary campaign on Tuesday after disappointing turnout in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night.

Hutchinson campaigned on offering an alternative to Former President Donald Trump, he was the last holdout of several “never Trump” candidates who pointedly attempted to offer a contrast to the party’s frontrunner.

“My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front runner did not sell in lowa,” Hutchinson said in a written statement on Tuesday. “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.”

Hutchinson finished the Iowa caucuses with around 0.2 percent of the vote among Iowa Republican caucusgoers on Monday according to results from the Iowa Republican Party reporting portal.

Just five days before the Iowa caucuses and the day of a televised CNN debate in Des Moines, Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced his campaign’s suspension.

On Monday, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced his campaign’s suspension after unofficial results showed that Ramaswamy failed to win the Iowa caucuses like he had projected, instead he garnered around 8 percent of the vote among Iowa Republican caucusgoers.

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Liam Halawith, Politics Editor

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Liam Halawith is a third-year student at the University of Iowa studying Journalism and Mass Communication and minoring in Public Policy. Before his role as Politics Editor Liam was a politics reporter for the DI. Outside of the DI Liam has interned at the Cedar Rapids Gazette and the Southeast Iowa Union. This is his second year working for the DI.

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