Ben Carson Sees No 'Political Path Forward' After Super Tuesday

Ben Carson said Wednesday that he will skip the next Republican debate and that he no longer sees a viable path to the nomination.

Carson said in a statement that he will skip Thursday’s Fox Republican debate in his hometown of Detroit, despite qualifying for it.

“I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results,” the retired neurosurgeon said in the statement.

Carson’s decision to skip the debate comes after a string of disappointments for his campaign. Despite briefly rising to the top of the polls in the fall, Carson has not won a single state and garnered just three delegates from Virginia on Super Tuesday.

But he stopped short of formally suspending his campaign: “This grassroots movement on behalf of “We the People” will continue … I appreciate the support, financial and otherwise, from all corners of America. Gratefully, my campaign decisions are not constrained by finances; rather by what is in the best interests of the American people.”

Carson’s Wednesday statement says he will discuss his future plans in a speech on Friday in Washington, D.C.

Carson reportedly told fellow GOP candidate Gov. John Kasich that he will be suspending his campaign.

Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.Rogers@time.com.