Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum announced he is suspending his campaign at a speech in Gettysburg, Penn., following reports by several media outlets that he would drop out, including this report by CNN Tuesday.
“We made a decision to get into this race at our kitchen table against all the odds,” Santorum said during the speech. “And we made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race, for us, is over for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today.”
We are not done fighting, he added.
The surprise decision comes just days after the notoriously anti-gay Pennsylvania Republican stepped off the campaign trail to tend to his ailing 3-year-old daughter Bella, who was hospitalized over the weekend, and after recent polls showed that he could possibly lose the primary in his home state. The combination is believed to be the impetus behind his move to leave the race, according to Huffington Post.
During the speech, Santorum said that his daughter’s illness bolstered his efforts and impassioned his campaign for strong American families.
“We were winning,” Santorum said. “We winning in a different way. We were touching hearts and raising issues.”
Santorum challenged Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, winning 11 states and 285 delegates during his run. Throughout the campaign trail, he promised potential voters that he would reinstate the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay soldiers Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and would outlaw same-sex marriage across the country.
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