Ted Cruz suspended his presidential campaign just hours after he suffered a significant loss in the Indiana primary election.
The announcement, while not completely out of left field, was a change in tone from the Cruz campaign’s earlier plan to hang on and try to nab as many delegates from Trump as possible before the GOP convention in order to have a shot at forcing a second ballot.
Ted Cruz drops out of the 2016 presidential race: "We are suspending our campaign" https://t.co/e9c4dkjYeB https://t.co/Uqiezjh6U0
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 4, 2016
“I’m sorry to say, it appears that path has been foreclosed,” he said. “Together we left it all on the field in Indiana, we gave it everything we’ve got, but the voters chose another path.”
Cruz’s favorability among Republican voters has dropped significantly over the past couple of months. According to recent polls, more GOP voters now have a negative opinion of him than those who view him favorably. Cruz also was behind by a double-digit margin in several upcoming primaries, including California, which has 127 delegates up for grabs.
Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has 153 delegates, said he will remain in the race until another candidate reaches the required 1,237 delegates to win the nomination outright.
