![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/06\/16\/PPHX\/45ad397f-2fe9-456d-af7c-6a4b8212258e-mattsalmon.jpg?width=660&height=660&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/figure>\nFormer Arizona congressman Matt Salmon, a longtime figure in state Republican politics who barely lost a bid for governor 20 years ago, announced Tuesday he would end his campaign for the GOP nomination for governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Salmon, 64, announced he would\u00a0leave the race barely a week before early voting begins, acknowledging he trailed two other GOP candidates who held a lead he couldn’t close.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, numbers are numbers, and it has become clear to me that the path to a first-place victory is no longer a realistic possibility,\u201d Salmon said in a statement. \u201cRepublican primary voters deserve more than having their votes split on Aug. 2nd, and so I am leaving this race for the same reason that I entered it: Because it is what’s best for the people of Arizona.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salmon, of Mesa, is a small-government, low-tax conservative who jumped from the state Senate to serve five terms over two stints in Washington, D.C., where his legacy includes helping start the House Freedom Caucus, which includes the most conservative members of Congress. \u00a0<\/p>\n He built his campaign to replace Republican Gov. Doug Ducey on his experience. Of five GOP candidates in the primary election, Salmon was the only one who had won an election, other than to serve as a precinct committeeperson. \u00a0<\/p>\n Salmon pledged to eliminate the income tax and crack down at the state\u2019s southern border if voters elected him governor. \u00a0<\/p>\n While one leading opponent\u00a0ran a sensational campaign based on rage politics, Salmon was more comfortable talking policy. While another candidate showed willingness to spend millions of her own money to reach voters, Salmon\u2019s fundraising trailed, leaving him third in the pack of candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n His departure from the race could shift the dynamics in a close Republican contest just ahead of early voting and roughly a month before the primary election. \u00a0<\/p>\n Salmon\u2019s pool of conservative supporters and donors will now choose between four remaining candidates, namely two frontrunners in the GOP field:\u00a0Kari Lake, the former Fox 10 news anchor running a Trump-inspired bombastic bid for the state\u2019s top office, and Karrin Taylor Robson, a former developer and member of the Board of Regents who is running a mostly self-funded and more traditional conservative campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n Two other candidates\u00a0\u2014 former businesswoman Paola Tulliani Zen of Scottsdale and business owner Scott Neely of Mesa \u2014 also are on the ballot. In terms of spending and polling, however, both Tulliani Zen and Neely trail Lake and Taylor Robson significantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ducey leaves office in January 2023 having served two terms in office. He cannot run again because of term limits. The governor has not yet endorsed a successor, though he has suggested he could do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a young man, Salmon served his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Taiwan. His interest in the region, and his ability to speak Mandarin, led to business and political success years later.\u00a0<\/p>\n Salmon got his start in politics in the Arizona Senate in 1991. It was just after the tumultuous tenure of Gov. Evan Mecham \u2014 who was impeached in 1988 \u2014 which was met with a group of more moderate Republicans entering the political playing field.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kevin DeMenna, who was at the time working in the state Senate, labeled Salmon and his peers “silk tie conservatives” \u2014 they were sophisticated, thoughtful, analytical, not reactionary, as the state had seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n \u201cThis was a cathartic moment, guys like Matt saved the state,\u201d said DeMenna, a lobbyist who went to work on Salmon’s 2002 gubernatorial bid and has been a Salmon supporter since then.\u00a0<\/p>\n Salmon, a telecommunications executive, served four years in the state Legislature before being elected to Congress in 1995. After six years in Congress, he opted not to run again,\u00a0keeping his promise to follow a self-imposed term limit as part of the \u201cContract with America,\u201d a slate of conservative policy proposals that included tax cuts, crime reduction measures and required a balanced budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n By the time he left Washington, Salmon had gotten two measures passed into law, the most significant pieces of his Congressional record.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/06\/17\/PPHX\/f3a56e22-82f5-4609-b975-04d312522b80-DSC00295.JPG?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
Salmon’s experience focus of campaign<\/h2>\n
![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/06\/17\/PPHX\/16f05e23-9898-4e48-8fd9-d1efc90c03bb-DSC02359.JPG?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")