Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has apologized to those who donated to his presidential campaign, which he suspended after a poor showing in the South Carolina Republican primary.
“I’m sorry that it didn’t turn out the way that I intended,” Bush said, according to the New York Times. “When I launched the campaign in front of three or four thousand people in Miami, I anticipated a different result.”
Bush's super PAC, Right to Rise USA, raised more than $116 million for the former governor's presidential campaign. Bush himself had a hand in much of that fundraising, as HuffPost's Paul Blumenthal reported earlier:
In December 2014, Bush announced that he would "actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States." This carefully hedged statement declaring his not-yet-a-candidate status allowed him to evade campaign finance laws that would have otherwise barred him from coordinating with Right to Rise USA. He went on to raise over $100 million in the first six months of 2015 for the group. Once Bush officially entered the presidential race, he had to stop soliciting large checks for the super PAC and its fundraising suffered.
Bush's departure narrowed the GOP presidential primary race down to just five candidates: businessman Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
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