Rick Santorum ends presidential campaign, endorses Marco Rubio

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

last updated 4 February 2016

Rick Santorum announced Wednesday he is suspending his presidential campaign and endorsing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

On Twitter, the former Republican senator from Pennsylvania said he was "so thankful and grateful" for his supporters, but it was "just not our year," and urged his fans to back his former rival. During an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, Santorum, who said he does not "endorse lightly," called Rubio a "tremendously gifted young man," and said he decided, along with his wife Karen, to support someone who shares their values "and will do better in this race." On Monday, Santorum received just 1,783 votes in the Iowa caucus, only four years after he won the state during the 2012 presidential race.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.