NORTH CHARLESTON, SC — Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the presidential race Thursday and threw his support behind Newt Gingrich for the Republican nomination.
Perry, speaking at a news conference, said he saw no viable path forward and was therefore suspending his campaign and endorsing Gingrich.
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The endorsement came just as polls suggested Gingrich was closing in on front-runner Mitt Romney in South Carolina ahead of the state’s primary on Saturday.
Perry said that while he and Gingrich have had their differences, he believes Gingrich is the Republican candidate who best represents “bold and conservative leadership.”
“I believe Newt is a conservative visionary who can transform our country,” Perry said, with his wife, Anita, at his side. “We’ve had our differences, which campaigns inevitably have, and Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?”
Some conservative leaders, aiming to stop Romney’s momentum, had urged Perry to bow out and to help rally conservative voters around an alternative to Romney.
Perry’s departure narrowed the GOP field to four leading candidates: Romney and Gingrich, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
His announcement came hours before a Republican debate Thursday night in Charleston, SC.
The Texas governor urged conservatives to unite around Gingrich and signaled that he will do what he can to help in that effort.
“We must rise to the occasion and elect a conservative champion to put our nation back on track,” Perry said.
“And this I know: I’m not done fighting. I know we can’t lose track of our ultimate objective,” which he described as “not only to defeat President Obama but to replace him with a conservative that will bring about real change.”
“I was very honored and very humbled to have Gov. Perry speak so well about endorsing me just a few minutes ago as he withdrew from the campaign,” Gingrich said later at an outdoor town-hall event in Beaufort, SC.
He said he had spoken with Perry Thursday morning and had asked the governor to head up a “10th Amendment enforcement project,” and Perry accepted. Gingrich wants the states-rights project to result in a bill that would be part of his legislative platform, should he win the GOP nomination.
Perry’s advisers had been discussing his potential exit in recent days as they looked for a way the governor could return home gracefully after running a failed campaign. Those discussions intensified Wednesday as they began to weigh when he should drop out and which of his opponents he should endorse.
Perry’s campaign aides described a final 24 hours of heated debate within his inner circle over whether to stay in and face potential humiliation in Saturday’s voting or to throw what limited support he had in the state to another candidate.
When news broke Thursday morning that Perry had decided to end his campaign, many of his campaign aides in the state were unaware of the decision.
South Carolina GOP operatives said the move was another piece of good news for Gingrich, who appears to have the most momentum right now.
“This is huge for Newt Gingrich,” said Chip Felkel, a South Carolina GOP strategist. “I don’t know how many votes Perry had, but it’s just one less person to look at. The vote against Romney is now being split in fewer ways, and that helps build the case that Gingrich is the guy.”
Perry’s departure will set of a flurry of calls to Texas as rival campaigns seek to rally the support of his vast fundraising network based in the state.
Already, one major Perry fundraiser said he would switch to Romney’s campaign. Kirk Blalock said Romney has the best track record as a leader and can beat President Barack Obama.
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