--- title: Jeb Bush Drops Out of Presidential Race description: "The people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken. I respect their decision." canonical: https://time.com/4231664/jeb-bush-drops-out-president/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-21T01:44:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T17:56:55.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeb Bush Drops Out of Presidential Race og:description: "The people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken. I respect their decision" og:url: https://time.com/4231664/jeb-bush-drops-out-president/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad36d19e15811eb6/69887e69196cf48d7703a6a7/bush_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks during a campaign event in Greenville, South Carolina og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeb Bush Drops Out of Presidential Race twitter:description: "The people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken. I respect their decision" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad36d19e15811eb6/69887e69196cf48d7703a6a7/bush_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeb Bush Drops Out of Presidential Race > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8e2b827f-2768-45b8-970a-b9b4bfb71aaf&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Jeb Bush's Saddest Campaign Moments [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Jeb Bush's Saddest Campaign Moments](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xTuQ6C6q.m3u8) (2:36)  _Published 2016-02-19. At one time the Republican front-runner, Bush led the race for the nomination until the late summer emergence of billionaire Donald Trump as a contender._ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:56 PM UTCPublished: Feb 21, 2016 1:44 AM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:56 PM UTCPublished: Feb 21, 2016 1:44 AM UTC Jeb Bush formally ended his[ painful run for the White House](http://time.com/4231020/jeb-bush-please-clap-saddest-moments-south-carolina/) on Saturday night, telling supporters that “our nation’s bright light has become little more than a flicker.” “Tonight I am suspending my campaign,” the former Florida governor told a crowd of supporters. “The people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken. I respect their decision.” Bush had [struggled ](http://time.com/4205547/jeb-bush-ad-donald-trump/)in early primary states, including in South Carolina’s vote on Saturday, [which Donald Trump won](http://time.com/4231631/south-carolina-primary-results-republican-donald-trump-ted-cruz-marco-rubio-jeb-bush/). The full results had not even been announced when Bush took the stage to say he was suspending his campaign. Even in exiting, Bush stood fast against the angry mood of the country that helped Trump log wins. If that’s what America wanted, then they’d have to look away from Bush. “In this campaign, I have stood my ground. I have refused to bend to the political whims,” Bush said in a somber hotel ballroom in Columbia, S.C. Bush acknowledged the campaign was brutal, especially in a year when all laws of political physics seemed to evaporate. He called his staffers and supporters “fellow grinders.” Many of Bush’s top advisers and aides were in the ballroom as he spoke. It was obvious some had been crying and others were visibly pained. South Carolina voters who came to support Bush were shocked by the news, letting out a gasp when he told them it was over. “America is a country that thinks big, acts boldly and leads without apology,” Bush said. He said it was up for the next President to do that. Bush’s rivals for the Republican nomination offered praise for the governor in their more triumphant speeches on Saturday night. “Governor Bush brought honor and dignity to this race,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said, adding that Bush “ran a campaign based on ideas, based on policy, based on substance, a man who didn’t go to the gutter and engage in insults and attacks.” ### See Jeb Bush's Life in Photos  George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, Jan. 1, 1955. Sygma/Corbis  From left to right: Doro, Marvin, Neil, and Jeb Bush, fall 1963. George Bush Presidential Library  From left to right: Doro, George, Jeb, Marvin, George W., Neil, and Barbara Bush, 1966. George Bush Presidential Library  Jeb Bush (center) was the varsity tennis team captain during his senior year at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., 1971. Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library  George Bush and his four sons, Neil, Jeb, George W. and Marvin in 1970. Bob E. Daemmrich—Sygma/Corbis  Jeb and Columba Bush on their wedding day, Feb. 23, 1974. George Bush Presidential Library  Jeb Bush loudly applauds his father, Republican presidential hopeful George Bush, at a campaign rally in Concord, N.H. on Feb. 28, 1980. Frank Lorenzo—Bettmann/Corbis  Vice President George Bush holds a fish with his sons George W. and Jeb during a family vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine in Aug. 1983. Cynthia Johnson—Getty Images  From left to right (without children): Neil and Sharon Bush, George W. Bush and wife Laura, Barbara and George Bush, Margaret and Marvin, Bobby Koch and Dorothy, Jeb and Columba, are seen in this Bush family photo taken in Kennebunkport, Maine on Aug. 24, 1986. Dave Valdez—White House/Sygma/Corbis  Jeb Bush plays cards with his son while riding in a recreational vehicle, Nov. 8, 1993. Christopher Little—Corbis  Jeb Bush is interviewed at a Miami Radio Station, WIOD, Mar. 1980\. He went on to become Governor of Florida in 1999. Tim Chapman—Getty Images  George W. Bush and Jeb Bush at the Republican Governors' Convention in New Orleans, 1998. Nina Berman—SIPA  Texas governor George W. Bush celebrates good news with his brother, Florida governor Jeb Bush, while watching the presidential election returns, prior to being elected as President of the United States, inside the Governor's Mansion in Austin, Nov. 7, 2000. Brooks Kraft—Sygma/Corbis  Republican governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, studies his laptop watching vote returns for his reelection his wife Columba Bush and his parents, former President George Bush and first lady Barbara Bush in Miami on Nov. 5, 2002. Joe Burbank—Orlando Sentinel/MCT/Getty Images  Republican nominee for President, Mitt Romney, campaigns around Florida with Governor Jeb Bush, left, Senator Marco Rubio, right, and Congressman Connie Mack, left back of head, in Coral Gables, Fla. on Oct., 31, 2012. Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images  Jeb Bush speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME ## Transcript We need a president today that runs to the challenge rather than cuts in run and that's what [ UNKNOWN ] how to do. If you want someone with a proven record then you're looking at the nominee for the Republican nomination. Jeb Bush, started the campaign not a terrific candidate. He was out of practice. He had never campaign in an era where social media Instantly broadcast every one of his signature verbal ticks. It's a selfie. You bet. Thank you. Early on, he was struck by how quickly something ricocheted from a casual comment to the Internet. I should stop campaigning maybe? Let's just, it's all done. As the campaign went forward, he got a little more sure of, He started revealing a little more of what he considered is true personality. That, however wasn't much better. Jeff Bush at his core is a wonk.. He's a sarcastic nerd who just really doesn't have a lot of patience for the theatrics of politics. He came through, several times, often at the most inopportune moments Take for instance one of his campaign debates, where he went to give Donald Trump a high five and it looked like he was gonna deck the outstretched hand instead. These things just never really gelled for him. One of the worst moments for the Bush campaign is when an audience wasn't sure whether to clap or not, and Jeb Bush asked them to clap. Please clap. [ APPLAUSE ] Please clap has become short hand for please do something to support me. Really I'm trying here give me this, give me this one thing, this room. It was a touching, you could tell Jeb Bush really wanted that moment to stand out. He was proud of what he had just said and he knew the audience should have liked it. The problem was all of us were in the back of The camera's rolling became this metaphor for a campaign that just was not getting traction. For months Jeb Bush insisted he was his own man, that he was running as Jeb with an exclamation point, and not as a bush. But as the campaign got more difficult for him he turned to what was available to him A rock star of a mother who wowed crowds in New Hampshire. Come back. And his brother, who's deeply popular in South Carolina. He brought both of them out, trying to help get his campaign a jolt of energy. Didn't immediately translate to votes. When Jeb Bush got in this race, he came in with every advantage possible, and then he started campaigning. 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