The Republican fight for the presidential nomination has reached a new low. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum announced this Monday that he was throwing in the towel after failing to perform well in the election campaign and failing to shine in the debates. His chances were nil in a race dominated by Donald Trump, where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are vying to become the alternative to the former president.
Before Burgum, Miami Mayor Francis Suárez has already withdrawn from the competition; former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. Radio host Larry Elder has also abandoned his claims; Businessman Perry Johnson and former Texas congressman Will Hurd, whose campaigns never got off the ground.
The Republicans are holding the fourth primary debate between the presidential candidates this Wednesday in Alabama. Currently, only DeSantis, Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are eligible, while Chris Christie is at the limit. Trump has decided not to take part on this occasion either.
When Burgum launched the campaign in June, he was little known nationally. If he was able to meet the donor requirements to take part in the first debates, it was due to a ruse. He offered $20 gift cards to the first 50,000 who contributed to his campaign, surpassing the minimum threshold of 40,000 donors in exchange for $1 million. The politician, a former computer entrepreneur who ran Great Plains Software (he sold it to Microsoft for about $1 billion in 2001), has financed most of his campaign with his own money.
He almost missed the first debate due to a last-minute injury (he tore his Achilles tendon playing basketball) but still made it to the stage in the end. Because the voting intent requirements in the first and second debates were minimal, he was able to participate, but without any glamor. As soon as demand increased, he was eliminated from the third debate and was left with no options for the fourth either.
“We launched our campaign with a very clear mission: to bring the voice of a proven business leader and governor to the fight for the best of America. We will always be committed to fighting for this and for the people who make our nation so extraordinary,” Burgum tweeted in farewell.
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North Dakota’s governor has criticized the Republican Party apparatus for preventing his participation in the debates. “It is not your job to reduce competition and limit new ideas by narrowing the field months before the Iowa caucuses or the nation’s first New Hampshire caucuses,” he wrote in the statement announcing his withdrawal announced the race. “These arbitrary criteria guarantee candidates from major coastal media markets advantages over those in the heartland of the United States. “None of their debate criteria has anything to do with the qualifications required to actually hold the office of president,” he added.
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