Washington D.C. – Ben Carson officially suspended his presidential campaign on Friday a day after he decided to skip the Republican debate. His announcement came as the Super Tuesday results made him realize there was no possible political path forward but he is still determined to be involved in “trying to save our nation”.
Carson put an end to his presidential campaign at the Conservative Political Action Conference and received a standing ovation. Before his speech, he announced he would be directing a nonpartisan organization called My Faith Votes, which is aimed to mobilize Christian voters to go to the polls.
“I believe Christians in this country can easily determine the next president of the United States and all other national and local leaders, should they simply show up at the polls”, Carson stated.
He said nothing was more important to him than his personal faith that motivated him to participate in the political process.
The 64-year-old retired neurosurgeon impressed many Americans by coming this far in the campaign, given that he had never taken part in any public office before he announced last spring that he would be running for president.
His candidacy was promising at the beginning as he appealed to a Republican Party and electorate seeking to know a more diverse group of candidates and easily became a frequent speaker and guest at conservative gatherings.
However, the African-American doctor had a hard time when addressing the issue of foreign policy, which weakened his campaign’s momentum. An adviser on terrorism and national security told The New York Times in a November interview that Carson had a poor understanding of the conflict in the Middle East.
Carson urges Republicans to respect each other to ensure the victory over Democrats
Carson did not name any other candidate he would like to win the Republican nomination, but he advised voters to choose someone who is ethical and urged them not to make a decision based on fear.
The former presidential candidate also asked the current runners to behave civilly and warned that they would be making things easy for Democrats in the general election by attacking each other. He remarked that the Republicans were not each other’s enemies and that they could not afford to let the Democrats take advantage of the infighting among the members of the party.
Source: New York Times