--- title: Rand Paul Drops Out of GOP Primary description: "Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty." canonical: https://time.com/4205874/rand-paul-ends-campaign/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-03T14:05:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:43:50.100Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rand Paul Drops Out of GOP Primary og:description: "Today, I will end where I began, ready to fight for the cause of Liberty." og:url: https://time.com/4205874/rand-paul-ends-campaign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdc38dd0c2ace042/69887be8a988ca5e526b669b/rand-paul2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4395 og:image:height: 2472 og:image:alt: Rand Paul og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rand Paul Drops Out of GOP Primary twitter:description: "Today, I will end where I began, ready to fight for the cause of Liberty." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdc38dd0c2ace042/69887be8a988ca5e526b669b/rand-paul2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rand Paul Drops Out of GOP Primary > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke J Miller / Concord, N.H.](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Concord, N.H. Feb 3, 2016 2:05 PM UTC  Rand Paul listens to an attendee's question during a town hall at National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum in Knoxville, Iowa, Friday, Jan. 29, 2016. Rand Paul listens to an attendee's question during a town hall at National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum in Knoxville, Iowa, Friday, Jan. 29, 2016. Patrick Semansky—AP by [Zeke J Miller / Concord, N.H.](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Concord, N.H. Feb 3, 2016 2:05 PM UTC Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is calling quits on his presidential bid Wednesday, according to two people familiar with his plans. Paul, who finished in fifth place in the Iowa caucuses and picked up a single delegate to the Republican National Convention, has struggled with money and for voter attention for most of the last year of his candidacy. He is getting out of the race to focus on winning re-election to his Senate seat, a race for which he just received a challenger last week. “It’s been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House. Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty,” Paul said in a statement. ### Rand Paul's Unusual Fashion Sense  Politicians love to roll up the sleeves on their button-down shirts while out campaigning, but Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is one of the few to head straight for the short-sleeve shirt when on the stump. Win McNamee—Getty Images  Paul is also comfortable with a short-sleeve shirt and khakis, a more casual look also favored by his father, at right. Charles Dharapak—AP  While out campaigning, Paul also sometimes goes for a more Western look, pairing blue jeans with cowboy boots. Charles Ommanney—Getty Images  He's also been known to use jeans to make a more classic political combo of button-down shirt and power tie seem less formal. Richard Ellis—Getty Images  At other times, he'll make his outfit less formal by skipping the tie... James Crisp—AP  …or wearing a tie with a bold, fun pattern... Scott Olson—Getty Images  …or by going with a more daring color of shirt... Sonia Moskowitz—Getty Images  …or wearing a sweater on top... Stephen Lance Dennee—AP  …or just wearing a turtleneck. Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images  At times, Paul has been extremely casual. Hunter Wilson—AP  But at other times, he dressed in the standard Washington fare. Mark Wilson—Getty Images  And he's been known to favor a formal winter coat too. Win McNamee—Getty Images  But even when he does dress up, Paul often finds a way to make the look his own, such as with a pair of sunglasses. Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images  Sunglasses may also just be a favored accessory because he is an eye doctor. Melina Mara—Washington Post/Getty Images  But whatever he's wearing, Paul finds a way to make it his own. Washington Post/Getty Images “Although, today I will suspend my campaign for President, the fight is far from over,” Paul continued. I will continue to carry the torch for Liberty in the United States Senate and I look forward to earning the privilege to represent the people of Kentucky for another term.” Paul’s campaign struggled to get off the ground as his libertarian message proved ill-timed amid new fears surrounding international terrorism and the rise of ISIS. Paul had sought to expand on his father, Ron Paul’s, bloc of libertarians by bringing new voters into the Republican Party, but watched as a better funded and organized Ted Cruz managed to pull many of them toward his campaign. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4205874/rand-paul-ends-campaign/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4205874/rand-paul-ends-campaign/"},"headline":"Rand Paul Drops Out of GOP Primary","datePublished":"2016-02-03T14:05:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:43:50.100Z","description":"To focus on his Senate re-election campaign","url":"https://time.com/4205874/rand-paul-ends-campaign/","keywords":["Rand Paul","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdc38dd0c2ace042/69887be8a988ca5e526b669b/rand-paul2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke J Miller / Concord, N.H."}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdc38dd0c2ace042/69887be8a988ca5e526b669b/rand-paul2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rand Paul","caption":"Rand Paul","creditText":"Patrick Semansky—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/rand-paul/","name":"Rand Paul"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4205874/rand-paul-ends-campaign/","name":"Rand Paul Drops Out of GOP Primary"}}]}] ```