Republican Mark Sanford ends his 2020 presidential campaign

Mark Sanford is officially calling it quits.

The former congressman and South Carolina governor, who sought to challenge President Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2020, announced Tuesday he's ending his campaign, Axios reports.

Sanford, who while in Congress said that Trump has "fanned the flames of intolerance," said in July he was considering a run against the president, announcing in September he'd be joining the race and saying, "As a Republican Party, we have lost our way." His campaign was, to put it mildly, a long shot effort; a formal kickoff event he held in October drew just a single person.

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Upon announcing Tuesday he'd already be exiting the race, Sanford said Tuesday, per The Washington Post's Dave Weigel, "I don't think on the Republican side there's any appetite for a serious nuanced debate with impeachment in the air."