Former Texas governor Rick Perry has announced that he is dropping out of the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Perry is first in the Republican field to exit the race. His campaign ran into financial trouble after he did not poll high enough to participate in the first presidential debate.

Perry laid off a number of campaign workers and shuttered offices in early voting states. Although he was sustained by a well-funded Super Pac, it proved not to be enough for his campaign to continue.

In his remarks announcing he would no longer be seeking his party’s nomination, Perry told attendees at a social conservative event in St Louis: “We have a tremendous field – the best in a generation – so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands, and as long as we listen to the grassroots, the cause of conservatism will be too.”

“I share this news with no regrets,” he continued. “It has been a privilege and an honor to travel this country, to speak with the American people about their hopes and dreams, to see a sense of optimism prevalent despite a season of cynical politics.”

Perry had been one of the most vocal critics of Donald Trump in the Republican field and assailed the billionaire as “a cancer on conservatism”. He criticized Trump, though not by name, on Friday.

“Demeaning people of Hispanic heritage is not just ignorant, it betrays the example of Christ. We can enforce our laws and our borders, and we can love all who live within our borders, without betraying our values,” he said.



The former Texas governor added: “It is time to elevate our debate from divisive name-calling, from soundbites without solutions, and start discussing how we will make the country better for all if a conservative is elected president.”

In the aftermath of Perry’s announcement, his fellow Republicans reacted graciously to his departure from the race. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal who actively campaigned for Perry in 2012 tweeted governor Perry “is a great friend, and has the best record of any governor anywhere, anytime” and Florida senator Marco Rubio released a statement praising Perry for his service commending “him for running an honorable, positive campaign”.

Even Donald Trump, who called Perry dumb less than two months ago, was polite. He tweeted Perry “is a terrific guy and I wish him well- I know he will have a great future!”

Immediately after Perry finished speaking in St Louis, Mike Huckabee praised Perry in his speech at the Eagle Forum. The former Arkansas governor and 2016 candidate pledged: “If I am the next president, Rick Perry will be part of the next administration.”

Perry’s 2016 campaign particularly emphasized the air force veteran’s service in the armed forces. The former Texas governor was one of only two candidates running to have served in the US military and he often campaigned with decorated veterans like former Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell, a Medal of Honor recipient whose exploits were memorialized in the movie Lone Survivor. In advance of his 2016 campaign, Perry also spent a considerable amount of time studying up on policy and brought on top conservative health care policy wonk Avik Roy to advise him.

However, his campaign never caught fire and Perry polled at zero percent nationally in the most recent CNN/ORC poll.

In a statement, Jamie Johnson, a veteran Iowa Republican activist who served a senior role on Perry’s campaign even after other staffers left, praised the former Texas governor as “the most honorable public servant I have ever known”.

This marks Perry’s second unsuccessful bid for the presidency. He previously ran in 2011 where he briefly surged to the front of the Republican field. However, he stumbled prominently in a televised debate where he could not remember the third of three federal agencies he said he wished to abolish. Perry’s campaign never recovered.

Although the former Texas governor tried to emphasize his social conservative credentials in a controversial ad where he said “something is wrong in America where gays can openly serve in the military but our children can’t pray in school,” it was unsuccessful. Perry finished fifth in the Iowa Caucuses with just over 10% of the vote and, after skipping the New Hampshire primary, eventually dropped out on the eve of South Carolina’s GOP nominating contest.

Perry became governor of Texas in 2001, ascending to the post after his predecessor George W Bush was elected president. He won re-election three times and served until 2014.

The Texas governor’s tenure in office was marked by staunchly conservative policies where Perry pushed to lower taxes and advocated for a state constitutional amendment to define marriage between a man and woman.

He also faced controversy when he was indicted in 2014 for “abuse of official capacity” related to a veto threat that Perry issued for funding of state’s Public Integrity Unit after its supervisor, Travis County district Rosemary Lehmberg, was convicted of drunk driving.

Perry’s exit from the race leaves 16 candidates still contending for the Republican presidential nomination.