Carly Fiorina ends bid for Republican presidential nomination

Carly Fiorina is exiting the Republican presidential race after a seventh-place showing in last night's New Hampshire primary.

"While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them," said Fiorina in a statement.

Fiorina was an unconventional candidate. Her only previous political effort had been a 10-point loss in a race for U.S. Senate in California, and her tenure at Hewlett-Packard was most notable for her being fired by the board of directors after an unsuccessful merger with Compaq.

Still, Fiorina struck a chord with many Republican voters, many of whom were especially drawn to her fierce anti-abortion viewpoints and spirited appearances on the campaign trail and in debates.

Fiorina, the only female candidate on the Republican side, devoted a considerable amount of time to attacking Hillary Clinton, whom she criticized for reducing her campaign to an appeal for a female president.

"How often does she talk to us about the historic nature of her candidacy?" Fiorina told NPR in January. "Every single time she's on the stump. I don't talk about that. I talk about why I'm the most qualified candidate to win this job and to do this job. Hillary Clinton cannot talk about the historic nature of her candidacy if she faces me."

Fiorina stood out in the initial "undercard" debate in August and rode a wave of attention and improved poll numbers to participate in several of the main debates.

But her momentum stalled, and not only was Fiorina relegated to several undercard debates, she was excluded altogether from ABC's Saturday night Republican debate. Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.