Republican businessman Tim Donner is withdrawing from the race for Virginia’s open U.S. Senate seat, he announced Wednesday.
In a Facebook post, Donner said, “there comes a time to recognize political realities” and admitted that Republicans are overwhelmingly behind the campaign of George Allen, a former governor who is running again for a Senate seat he held from 2001 to 2007.
Donner, who put more than $200,000 of his own money into the race, blamed a ballot filled with hopeful Tea Party darlings for failing to combine forces and rally support behind a single candidate.
“Given both the overwhelming support for the frontrunner 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,” Donner said.
Donner did not throw his support behind any candidate in the Facebook post.
Allen, former Tea Party leader Jamie Radtke, businessman David McCormick and Chesapeake Bishop Earl Jackson remain contenders for the nomination.
The Republican primary is June 12.
