Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has suspended
Gage Skidmore/Flickr
his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
In a statement released this morning, Paul wrote:
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. Across the country thousands upon thousands of young people flocked to our message of limited government, privacy, criminal justice reform and a reasonable foreign policy. Brushfires of Liberty were ignited, and those will carry on, as will I. Although, today I will suspend my campaign for President, the fight is far from over. 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.
The libertarian-ish lawmaker was unable to capture the enthusiasm generated by his father Ron Paul's two previous presidential bids, and his fifth place finish in Iowa likely sealed his fate. Paul often seemed to be deliberately pivoting toward the more conservative wing of the Republican party, which did him no service in the polls and likely alienated the libertarian diehards he hoped would serve as his base.
But in the most recent GOP debate, he appeared relaxed and confident in letting his liberty-loving freak flag fly, forcefully criticizing bulk data collection by the NSA, standing up for the Fourth Amendment, and delivering possibly the most eloquent case for criminal justice reform any candidate of either major party has yet articulated at a debate.
You can catch up on Reason's coverage on Rand Paul here and watch a recent Reason TV interview with the senator below.
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