After 6th-place finish in Iowa, Asa Hutchinson ends his presidential run

Jan. 16 (UPI) -- After a sixth-place finish in the Iowa Caucus, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced he was suspending his bootstrapped Republican presidential primary campaign.

In a primary that has been dominated by former President Donald Trump, Hutchinson, 73, had hopes to stand as a more moderate alternative to the GOP front-runner. His campaign, though, never took off in Iowa against Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and ex-United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.

"I congratulate Donald J. Trump for his win last night in Iowa and to the other candidates who competed and garnered delegate support," Hutchinson said in a statement on X. "Today, I am suspending my campaign for president and driving back to Arkansas."

Although Hutchinson tried to rise above the controversy surrounding Trump, his campaign never registered in the double digits and remained in the shadow of not only the former president but other top-tier candidates, too.

"My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front-runner did not sell in Iowa," Hutchinson said. "I stand by the campaign I ran. I answered every question, sounded the warning to the GOP about the risks in 2024 and presented hope for our country's future."

While Trump grabbed 56,260 votes during the Iowa Caucus for 51% of all caucus attendees, Hutchison languished with 191 votes, or 0.2%.

Hutchinson was shut out of many of the Republican primary debates because he failed to meet the Republican National Committee's threshold, which further distanced him from the party's leading candidates.

His announcement marked him as the second GOP candidate to drop out of the race. Earlier, Vivek Ramaswamy, who finished fourth in the Iowa Caucus, announced he was leaving his campaign and threw his support behind Trump.