Trump Challenger Joe Walsh Ends Campaign After Getting Crushed in Iowa
Former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh has ended his 2020 Republican presidential nominee challenge against President Donald Trump after his campaign failed to receive more than 1.1 percent of the vote in Iowa.
“I am ending my candidacy for president of the United States,” Walsh told CNN’s John Berman on “New Day” Friday morning.
“I got into this because I thought it was really important that there was a Republican — a Republican — out there every day calling out this president for how unfit he is.”
The Illinois Republican said that while he wants to stop Trump from being re-elected, “nobody can beat him” within the Republican Party.
“It’s Trump’s party, John. It’s not a party, it’s a cult,” Walsh said. “He can’t be beaten in the Republican primary, so there is no reason for me or any candidate really to be in there.”
Joe Walsh calls the GOP a “cult”: “(Trump’s) a threat to this country. He can’t be stopped within the Republican party. … The conservative media world, Fox News and all the rest wouldn’t give me the time of day. … They bow down in front of their king” https://t.co/ff5IuwAZzg pic.twitter.com/5EkjDcSokm
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 7, 2020
He bemoaned the fact that at least nine states had canceled their Republican state primaries and said the conservative media “wouldn’t give me the time of day.”
“Out there, every day, John, talking to Republican voters … I just became convinced that these folks have been fed nothing but lies and mistruths about President Trump and they can’t be gotten back,” Walsh said.
The former representative has been fighting an uphill battle for the Republican nomination since he announced his candidacy in August.
According to an October Federal Election Commission filing, Walsh raised $128,943.39 between the start of his campaign in August and the end of September.
Walsh’s donations stack up as .04 percent of the overall $308 million raised last year by President Donald Trump’s fundraising operation, including his campaign and the Republican National Committee.
The Trump campaign and the RNC raised $125 million in the third quarter alone, according to The New York Times.
Walsh’s defeat in Iowa put the last nail in his campaign’s coffin.
Walsh captured just 348 of the more than 32,000 Republican votes cast in the Iowa caucuses, to end up with 1.1 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld grabbed 426 votes and 1.3 percent of the total cast, while Trump secured 31,464, votes or 97.1 percent of the total, according to The New York Times.
Following his Iowa defeat, Walsh wrote in a series of tweets about his plight for the nomination and how the Republican party no longer has a place for him.
“But there needs to be a home for conservatives who are decent, principled, and respectful. Conservatives who embrace all God’s children, acknowledge that climate change is real, get serious about our debt, abide by our Constitution, and tell the truth,” he tweeted.
“I hope to be a part of this new party. This new movement.”
Weld is now the only candidate challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.
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