And then there were 12.
Former New York Governor George Pataki is suspending his campaign for the presidency. Pataki broke the news to his supporters on Tuesday, one of his key backers told The New York Times.
He plans to make an announcement on Tuesday night on the NBC affiliates in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The GOP presidential hopeful’s campaign did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Pataki announced his campaign in May but failed to gain traction. His poll numbers have been hovering in the single digits for months. He also struggled with fundraising, bringing in less than a million dollars over the course of his campaign. In another devastating blow, he failed to qualify for the Republican primary ballot in Florida after failing to generate enough interest, Florida’s secretary of state revealed earlier this month.
Pataki, a more moderate Republican, has been a vocal critic of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s controversial statements about Muslims and Mexican immigrants.
His withdrawal leaves 12 Republican candidates still battling for the party’s nomination with the Iowa caucuses just a month away.