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Former Gov. Bill Weld ends Republican primary challenge to Trump

By Associated Press

Bill Weld Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld speaks during the Higher Education Forum – College Costs & Debt in the 2020 Elections, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, at the University of New Hampshire in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) (Mary Altaffer/AP)

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld is ending his primary challenge to President Donald Trump.

Weld said in a statement Wednesday that he was suspending his 2020 Republican presidential bid. It came hours after Trump secured the number of delegates needed to clinch the Republican presidential nomination at the summer convention.

Weld was a 2016 vice presidential candidate on the Libertarian ticket and served as Massachusetts governor in the 1990s.

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His bid failed to gain traction as the Republican Party increasingly closed ranks around the president, with a number of states canceling their primaries and other nominating contests. Two other Republican candidates have already ended their bids: Joe Walsh, a former congressman from Illinois, and Mark Sanford, a former South Carolina governor and congressman.

Weld is the final major Republican challenger to Trump to leave the race.

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