With every major rival other than former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley out of the race, former President Donald Trump saw one of his last remaining longshot challengers call it quits and endorse him on Tuesday.

Texas pastor and businessman Ryan Binkley, who failed to gain much traction in an initially crowded primary, was on the ballot in nearly every primary so far, including Michigan’s Tuesday primary. 

What You Need To Know

  • Texas pastor and businessman Ryan Binkley, who failed to gain much traction in an initially crowded primary, ended his longshot campaign on Tuesday and endorsed former President Donald Trump
  • He never qualified for a debate or secured more than 800 votes in a given state, peaking at .9% in the Nevada caucus, where he and Trump were the only candidates on the ballot

  • Binkley focused his campaign heavily on reducing the national debt and calling for non-defense spending cuts while urging more bipartisanship in Washington

  • The 56-year-old founded a consultancy group and a Christian church in Texas

  • Binkley loaned his campaign over $10 million, raising under $400,000 from donors as of the end of January, campaign finance records show

“Today, I am suspending my campaign for the Presidency of the United States of America and offering my endorsement and unwavering support for President Trump,” Binkley wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Throughout my campaign, I have seen our party struggle to find a place for a new vision while weighing the corrupt allegations and indictments against President Trump. He will need everyone’s support, and he will have mine moving forward.”

A fiscal conservative who supported stringent border policies and “broken windows” policing, Binkley focused his campaign heavily on reducing the national debt and calling for non-defense spending cuts while urging more bipartisanship in Washington.

He never qualified for a debate, nor did he ever secure more than 800 votes in a given state, peaking at 0.9% in the Nevada caucus, where he and Trump were the only candidates on the ballot. Trump won with 99.1% of support in that contest. Binkley did outperform former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Bush administration veteran and anti-Trump candidate, in Iowa by around a half a percentage point. 

Trump’s campaign frequently pointed out that Binkley completed a tour of all 99 of Iowa’s counties before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who soon dropped out after a bitter campaign and unenthusiastically endorsed the former president.

The 56-year-old founded a consultancy group in Texas in 2006, which claims it has generated $9 billion in wealth for clients as it focused largely on mergers and acquisitions. He also founded a non-denominational Christian church with his wife, Ellie Binkley, in Richardson, Texas. 

Binkley loaned his campaign over $10 million, raising under $400,000 from donors as of the end of January, campaign finance records show. Before entering the race, Binkley gave tens of thousands to Trump and the RNC over the last decade.

“I’m not a politician. I am a CEO. I’m a business owner. I am a pastor, a father of five, from ages 13 to 23. And I’m a candidate for president because I feel like our nation’s in trouble, financially and culturally,” he told Politico in January. “And I’m in this race because I believe we need an economic revival and a spiritual revival.”

“I’m just shouting until enough people want to hear it,” he added.