Steve Laffey, the former mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, has dropped out of the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

You probably didn’t even know Laffey was a candidate.

It’s okay.

Many people likely never knew Laffey was in the race.

“You haven’t heard the last from me,” he told ABC News.

Laffey served as Cranston mayor from 2003 to 2007.

He “lost primary bids for the United States Senate from Rhode Island in 2006 and the House of Representatives from Colorado’s 4th congressional district in 2014,” according to Wikipedia.

ABC News reports:

Steve Laffey, the former mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, who announced his candidacy back in February, is dropping out of the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“I love being on the trail. I love meeting people,” he told ABC News. “I am crestfallen that I wasn’t able to cross the chasm.”

Laffey never broke through in any national polls or had a breakout moment that could have placed him on potential voters’ radar, punctuated by his inability to qualify for the debate stage. He considers his low name recognition partially to blame for this.

Behind Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, he is the second Republican presidential hopeful to drop out. But unlike Suarez, Laffey decided to pull out because, aside from financial reasons, he no longer believes in the message of his party.

This post accurately summarizes the reaction most people will have:

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According to The Hill, Laffey said the Republican Party became a “laughingstock” under the “shadow” of President Trump.

Per The Hill:

Former Cranston, R.I., Mayor Steve Laffey announced Friday he is dropping out of the Republican race for president in 2024 after failing to gain traction with his candidacy.

Laffey said in a release he is also leaving the Republican Party because it has become a “laughingstock” under the “shadow” of former President Trump. He said he has been a Republican for his entire life, and he felt that his principles and the party’s were aligned.

“However, what I’ve witnessed since 2015 has made it clear that our political sphere has deviated far from its ideals,” Laffey said.

He revealed his intention to drop out of the race in an interview with ABC News on Friday. He told the outlet he is dropping out for financial reasons and because he no longer believes in the GOP’s message, saying he will become an independent.

“I don’t have an avenue to tell people with a straight face, ‘It’s now October — how do I take off and take New Hampshire and keep going?’ But at the same time, I’m telling people the GOP is dead,” Laffey told ABC.

He said in the release Trump is “the significant factor” in the party’s “rapid movement towards authoritarianism.” He said he believed a “yearning” existed within the party to choose a candidate free from Trump’s shadow, but he was wrong.

 

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