After an internal poll confirmed that his U.S. Senate run had little chance of overcoming two other candidates, Todd County businessman Bill Johnson bowed out of the race on Wednesday.
Watch the 6pm story from WHAS11 News by clicking here.
His decision leaves five GOP candidates in the primary race, including frontrunners Rand Paul and Trey Grayson.
"I probably wouldn't endorse anybody," Grayson told WHAS11's Joe Arnold in a phone interview before he officially decided to drop out, "I think it's better to allow those who support me to make their own decisions."
Johnson, the self-declared "Reagan Republican," had been a tenacious campaigner, loaning his campaign about $300,000 of which $150,000 has been expended. He appeared at just as many campaign events as frontrunners Paul and Grayson, often times winning the most raucous applause from conservative crowds.
Yet, in the WHAS11/Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll released on Sunday, Johnson was a very distant third in the primary:
PAUL 42%
GRAYSON 27%
JOHNSON 5%
MARTIN 3%
STEPHENSON 2%
SCRIBNER 1%
UNDECIDED 19%
Johnson questioned the accuracy of the poll saying it polled people that claimed they were likely primary voters, with no way of verifying it.
So Johnson commissioned his own poll that surveyed only Republicans who had voted in at least one out of the last four primaries.
In the poll, conducted March 9 by Magellan, Paul's lead over Grayson is seven points slimmer 37% to 29%, but Johnson is stuck at 6%, with 25% undecided.
"Effectively, I would have to pick up every one of the undecideds to really have a shot at winning this primary election," Johnson said.
It was enough to seal his decision. The Todd County businessman and veteran had been viewed by some as a spoiler in the race, drawing enough Republican support to influence the outcome.
"Where my six percent goes is difficult to analyze," Johnson said, "I would suspect that it would split between the two candidates, and you konw the honest assessmet here is that Rand seems to be very strong at this point."
Johnson says he expects the race between Trey Grayson and Rand Paul to spark more negative campaiging, which he cautions often backfires.
He does plan to help whoever the primary winner is.
"Bill Johnson has been a real gamer," said Rand Paul campaign manager David Adams in a statement, "and I'm sure we haven't heard the last of him. The energy he brought to this race is a sure testimony to
the public's desire for an outsider to shake things up in Kentucky."
In a statement attributed to Trey Grayson, the Secretary of State said “Bill Johnson’s candidacy made this a better campaign, and I hope he will seek public office again in the future. Bill brought a valuable perspective as a businessman and veteran to the problems created by the federal government and proposed common sense solutions that we need in Washington. He’ll be missed on the campaign trail.”
Johson, who is unemployed after rejecting a transfer to Texas with his former employer, he'll take the summer off, "enjoy life and help whoever the primary winner is."
