I just spoke with GOP Senate candidate Tim Donner, and he said that at 4 PM today, he will officially withdraw from the race.
This is a loss to Virginia, as Donner was, and is, a serious candidate who put forward serious ideas. But he could not overcome the institutional weight behind the Allen campaign, or find a way to clear the field of the other GOP challengers.
Update
Here’s the press release from the Donner campaign. He currently has no plans to endorse another candidate:
“For the last year, I have traveled to virtually every corner of this extraordinary Commonwealth, introducing myself and our campaign of bold leadership for liberty to the people pf Virginia,” Tim Donner reminds us. “I offered myself as a viable option for the voters of Virginia – a candidate with a very different life experience and credentials than the front runner.”
“We have run HARD, and based our campaign on ideas rather than sound bites. Bold ideas that promote liberty in every realm of our lives, like constitutional reform to permanently limit the size of the federal budget, market-based Medicare reform and the Freedom of Choice in Education Act,” Donner asserts.
The Donner campaign has worked to challenge people to stand up for their constitutional rights, and take greater control of their own lives instead of allowing the federal government to assume ever-greater control over every area of our lives, from our money to our health care, our energy, our food and our property.
This campaign has been about ideas, but also ultimately winning this nomination. “I have said that I would remain in the race as long as I believed victory was possible,” Donner reiterated. “So honesty compels me to reach a clear conclusion: Given both the overwhelming support for the front runner in this race and our inability to narrow the field of challengers to one, despite numerous attempts to do so in recent weeks, there is no longer a path to winning this nomination.”
“Therefore, I am announcing that our campaign for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate has now reached its conclusion.”
“We’ve fought the good fight.” – Tim Donner
Tim Donner has delivered countless speeches to Republican committees, tea parties, coalitions, conventions, mass meetings, public events and on behalf of the party and other candidates. He has spoken with so many people – rank and file voters, political leaders, activists, business owners, and people who are hurting.
The Donner campaign has been very proactive with radio, print, internet and social media, producing scores of newsletters, videos, Facebook posts and op-eds detailing approaches we believe are right for the times…applying time-tested first principles to the defining issues of today.
The campaign has always been prepared for a steep and narrow climb to nomination for the U.S. Senate. But it now appears that by virtually every measurement available in this race, the great bulk of Republicans in Virginia – including virtually the entire political establishment from the Governor on down – support the election of the man who once held this U.S. Senate seat.
“But let me also say this: I am not going away.” – Tim Donner
“As a citizen candidate running for the highest legislative office in the land, I was not sure what to expect, but I’ve been consistently uplifted by a myriad of old and new friends who have encouraged, supported and found value in our campaign, and contributed their time, talent and treasure,” Donner confirms. “And by staff and advisers who are the most principled people I have ever known.”
“I will continue to employ my God-given skills to stay in the fight to restore the constitutional republic gifted to us by America’s founders, and to oppose at every turn the competing and ever more threatening vision of America as just another European-style social democracy. My passion is for free people and free markets,” Donner emphasizes.
“We cannot afford to get 2012 wrong because it truly IS the most important election of our lifetimes. At stake is nothing less than the future of a free America,” Donner continued.
“We must work to hold our senatorial, congressional and presidential nominees to account, and convince them that first principles are also winning principles. In fact, as Ronald Reagan demonstrated, fidelity to first principles represents the very foundation of successful political campaigns. ”
“My heart is full of gratitude for the opportunity – past, present and future – to serve this most exceptional nation, and its most exceptional state, the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Donner exclaimed.
