President Joe Biden apologized to former GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson following a statement by the Democratic National Committee that appeared to mock the former Arkansas governor’s long-shot campaign, the White House said Wednesday.
Hutchinson, one of former President Donald Trump’s toughest critics in the GOP primary, dropped out of the race a day after the Iowa caucuses, where he finished sixth and got only 0.2% of the vote.
The former governor’s campaign failed to get traction, and he only qualified for the first Republican primary debate in August.
“My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front-runner did not sell in Iowa,” he said Tuesday as he dropped out of the contest.
The DNC poked fun at the governor’s announcement.
“This news comes as a shock to those of us who could’ve sworn he had already dropped out,” DNC national press secretary Sarafina Chitika said.
While press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not get into whether the White House spoke to the DNC following their decision to issue that statement, she said Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients called Hutchinson to apologize on behalf of Biden, adding that those words “did not represent the president’s views.”
Jean-Pierre told reporters, “President Biden has deep respect for Governor Hutchinson and admires the race that he ran. The president knows him to be a man of principles who cares about our country and has a strong record of public service.”
Hutchinson, who worked closely with Biden as governor in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, said he accepted the president’s apology.
“The call from the White House was not necessary but still appreciated,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “We can disagree without demonizing.”
Trump comfortably won the Iowa caucuses Monday night, securing 51% of the vote and solidifying his status as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came a distant second, closely followed by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Hutchinson was one of the few candidates to rule out supporting Trump as the nominee if he was a convicted felon. Many of his fellow Republicans act as if Trump is the only candidate still in the race.