URBANDALE, Iowa — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann bowed out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday after finishing at a distant sixth place in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday.
“Last night the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice and so I have decided to stand aside,” Bachmann said from her campaign headquarters in Urbandale. “I have no regrets — none whatsoever. We can leave this race knowing that we ran it with the utmost integrity.”
In suspending her campaign, Bachmann called on the party to unite behind a conservative standardbearer and insisted that she would remain a “strong voice” in the presidential campaign.
“While I will not be continuing in this race for the president, my faith in the Lord, our God Almighty, in our country, the Republic, is unshakeable,” she said. “Make no mistake, I’ll continue to be a strong voice.”
Coming just four months after she claimed victory in the Iowa straw poll, Bachmann’s concession illustrates just how volatile this race has been, with a different frontrunner leading the pack every few weeks.
Bachmann finished sixth in the caucuses with 5 percent, or 6,073, of votes, according to final tallies reported early Wednesday morning.
“I look forward to the next chapter in God’s plan. He has one for each of us, you know, if we would only cooperate with him,” Bachmann said.
