Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, whose popularity early as a presidential contender from the Republican Party, was snuffed out due to the rise of his anti-establishment rivals, has announced that he will quit the presidential race.
He urged some of the other 15 GOP rivals to follow suit so their party could find one a strong candidate to unite against Donald Trump the current leading candidate.
Walker’s pointed rebuke of Trump gave a strong voice to the fears of a number of Republicans that the GOP is risking alienating large sectors of the country’s electorate – women, immigrants, Hispanics, veterans and Muslims – if Trump continued to vilify or mock them as part of his overtures to disaffected and angry voters.
Appearing quite drained and ashen at a late Monday news conference in the Wisconsin capital of Madison, Walker said the field of Republican candidates was far too focused on how bad everything was rather than how the party can make everything better for the people.
Without coming out and naming Trump, Walker issued an open plea to his fellow GOP candidates to find one Republican candidate to support who can give an optimistic vision and can guide the GOP to victory in 2016.
He said he was suspending his campaign effective immediately and hoped other Republican candidates do the same so voters can focus on a smaller number of candidates and the party can offer a conservative, positive alternative to the party’s current front-runner.
It did not appear as if any of his fellow rivals would take Walker up on his suggestion of dropping out though they acted surprised he withdrew.
The departure of Walker will likely have little or no impact on the sprawling field of candidates. In his most important state, Iowa, he had dropped from first to tenth in the most recent polls.
