Rick Santorum Ends Presidential Bid, Endorses Marco Rubio

Rick Santorum has announced tonight that he is suspending his campaign for president and endorsing Marco Rubio.

"We are suspending our campaign," he said on Fox News on Wednesday night.

"We decided that we want to find a candidate that really espoused the values that he we believed in," he said, adding that he wanted someone who cared about the middle class and family values. "That's why we decided to support Marco Rubio."

The failed two-time presidential candidate’s announcement comes after he finished in 11th place with 1 percent of the vote in Monday’s Iowa caucuses.

It was a far cry from 2012 when he delivered a surprise upset in the Iowa caucuses, defeating the eventual nominee, Mitt Romney. Hoping for a repeat of that come-from-behind win in the Hawkeye State, this year Santorum visited all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

"He's a tremendously gifted young man," he said of the Florida senator. "I just feel a lot of confidence that he is the new generation and someone that can bring this country together."

But ever since he announced his run for president on May 27, 2015, Santorum’s campaign failed to gather momentum, polling at single digits nationally -- and even in Iowa where he spent most of his time.

He also did not make any of the seven Republican main-stage debates, relegated instead to the undercard debates.

Instead of knocking frontrunner Donald Trump like other GOP contenders, Santorum decided to aim more of his fire on Ted Cruz. In his first campaign ad, Santorum hit the Texas senator: “You want someone to read one helluva bedtime story, Ted Cruz is your guy. If you want to protect America and defeat ISIS, Rick Santorum's your president.”

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