Marcus and Morgan Luttrell were seen standing behind Rick Perry during the former Texas governor’s 2016 presidential announcement.
Former Texas governor Rick Perry is suspending his campaign, becoming the first in a crowded GOP field to drop out of the 2016 presidential campaign. Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, announced his decision during a speech Friday night in St. Louis before conservative activists.
“I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States,” Perry said.
Perry, who spent a month as the frontrunner when he ran in 2012 before fading, struggled to get his campaign off the ground, finding himself strapped for cash and stuck polling at near 1 percent. The former governor leaves the field of Republicans at 16 candidates just days before the next GOP debate, and the deadline to pay the $40,000 fee for the South Carolina Republican primary was fast approaching.
“We have a tremendous field of candidates — probably the greatest group of men and women — I step aside knowing our party is in good hands.”
