Former Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said Sunday that Americans are searching for a “humble” candidate, before suggesting that’s why Republican rivals Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump are performing well in the polls.
“I really believe America is looking for a candidate who is humble, an individual who is full of humility, a person who understands we work for the people not the other way around,” Perry said during an appearance on Fox News’ “America’s News Headquarters.”
The longest-serving Texas governor currently trails behind Trump and several others in Republican primary polls and has been closely watched since his campaign announced that it is no longer compensating staffers.
“I’ve been broke before, whether it’s in my personal life or as the governor of Texas,” Perry responded when asked about his campaign’s financial woes Sunday. “You cut back, you make the reductions that you need to make, and you move forward.”
Perry’s comments about Fiorina, Carson and Trump come 24 hours after the brash New York billionaire toned down his characteristic egotism during a stump speech in Nashville, Tenn.
At a campaign rally Saturday, Trump told supporters that he didn’t want his presidential campaign to be seen as a publicity ploy.
“I don’t want it to be about me,” he said, as previously reported by the Washington Examiner. “This is about common sense. It’s about doing the right thing.”
While the ex-reality TV host’s lead continues to grow in polls, Perry said Sunday that voters shouldn’t settle with a Trump nomination quite yet.
“We had one person dominating the field in 2007 too, and that was Rudy Guiliani,” he noted of the former New York mayor who eventually lost the GOP nomination to Arizona Sen. John McCain.
“It’s still really early,” Perry added.
