Bush quits after heavy defeat in Republican vote
One-time Republican frontrunner pulls out after finishing fourth behind Trump in South Carolina
Jeb Bush dropped out of the US presidential race after a crushing defeat in South Carolina that ended his hopes of following his father and brother to the Oval office. The former Florida governor finished fourth in the Republican primary, well behind the winner Donald Trump.
JEB BUSH dropped out of the US presidential race yesterday, following a crushing defeat in South Carolina that ended his hopes of following his father and brother to the Oval office.
“The people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken,” Mr Bush said, fighting back tears in a seven-minute farewell speech. “And I really respect their decision.”
It was a humiliating turn for the former Florida governor who a year ago seemed certain to win the nomination, with donors providing a war chest of $100 million (£70 million).
The Bush campaign believed a “joyful” campaign, based on moderate Republican positions and political civility, would secure voters’ support. But Mr Bush was met at the ballot box by an electorate he no longer recognised.
Instead, Republican voters in South Carolina selected Donald Trump, the brash real-estate billionaire whose campaign has tapped into a pitchfork populism that handed him 32.5 per cent of the vote. Mr Trump told his supporters “it’s beautiful” when you win.
His victory in South Carolina demolished the argument that his campaign would eventually self-destruct.
It has been several decades since a Republican won both the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries but failed to win the nomination.
“Donald Trump has proven that he can win in an economically conservative state and a socially conservative state,” Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster, told The Daily Telegraph. “As a result, he is now the clear frontrunner.”
Florida senator Marco Rubio faltered earlier in the race with a poor finish in New Hampshire, but voters in South Carolina put him back on the map with a razor-thin second-place finish, winning 22.5 per cent of the vote to 22.3 per cent for Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas. Mr Bush finished fourth with 7.8 per cent — just 0.2 points ahead of John Kasich, the Ohio governor.
Mr Rubio said: “After tonight, this has become a three-person race and we will win the nomination.”
The result was a shock to Mr Cruz’s backers — South Carolina should have played to his strengths, with his campaign tailored to appeal to the state’s large number of evangelical voters.
Yesterday, the candidates were looking to their next hurdle in Nevada tomorrow, ahead of so-called “Super Tuesday” on March 1, when more than a dozen states vote for nominees.
Mr Rubio, who comes from a family of Cuban immigrants, appealed to Hispanic and other minority-background voters to back him.
Mr Trump was already looking forward to the general election. Asked if his attacks on immigrants and Muslims may have alienated too many people, he said he would attract “many many Democrats” and independents.
“In upstate New York I am the most popular person that has ever lived, virtually,” he added.