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'I step aside knowing our party is in good hands,’ the former Texas governor says. After months of struggling to gain traction, former Texas governor Rick Perry on Friday said he is suspending his campaign, becoming the first Republican candidate to drop out of the crowded race for the White House. "We have a tremendous field—the best in a generation—so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands," Perry said, during an appearance before a conservative conference in St. Louis. Perry, who has made his mark on the political landscape as the longest-serving governor in Texas history, in...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sam Clovis, the highly touted Iowa campaign co-chair for Rick Perry, has departed the Texas governor's presidential bid, a blow that comes as the campaign prepares to restructure its program in the early states. Confronted by anemic fundraising that forced the candidate to stop paying all its workers, Perry's campaign is preparing to off-load some of its field operation to an allied super PAC. The move will test whether an outside group can organize just as well as a traditional campaign. Over the next two weeks, Perry's field program will revamp as the $17 million super PAC...

PRINCETON, NJ -- Shortly after announcing his official candidacy, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has emerged as rank-and-file Republicans' current favorite for their party's 2012 presidential nomination. Twenty-nine percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents nationwide say they are most likely to support Perry, with Mitt Romney next, at 17%.

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Presidential hopeful Rick Perry on Thursday urged the Republican Party to do more to court black voters in the 2016 elections. "When we gave up on trying to win the support of African-Americans, we lost our moral legitimacy as the party of Lincoln, as the party of equal opportunity for all," the former Texas governor said. "I'm here to tell you that it's Republicans, not Democrats, who are truly offering black Americans the hope for a better life for themselves and their children," he added.  Citing improved educational and economic opportunities during his tenure in Texas, Perry said he would...

After weeks of cooling rains, the sun returned to Texas this week, baking the inside of the Addison airport hangar north of Dallas Thursday as Rick Perry teed up another presidential run. The Republican field is already filled with some new faces, some former candidates, and some seasoned politicians who have never run before. It was challenging to see where a revamped Perry effort could make much impact. Thursday afternoon, it got a little easier. Of course it’s an uphill climb. In a year where Republican tastes seem to lean toward people with little (or no) elected office experience,...

Nobody seems to be taking Rick Perry very seriously in 2016 because he proved to be such a poor candidate during the 2012 Republican primary debates. Those inclined to write him off may well be right. But he does have at least one big thing going for him — far and away the best and most coherent story of any candidate in the field about why his record in office should make you think he could deliver the kind of prosperity the voters crave. When liberals want to make conservative governance look bad, they'll point to Mississippi or, these days,...

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) is set to announce his presidential candidacy on Thursday afternoon in Addison, Texas.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry will officially announce his presidential plans today from Addison, Texas flanked by an impressive group of special operations veterans. Perry is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Check out the list: Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Paul Craig Retired U.S. Navy SEAL JJ Jones Taya Kyle, widow of Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in U.S. history and author of American Sniper Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, author of Lone Survivor Navy SEAL Morgan Luttrell Retired U.S. Marine Corps Captain Dan Moran Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Pete Scobell Retired U.S. Navy SEAL and Medal...

Washington (CNN)This time, Rick Perry has nowhere to go but up. Four years after his first presidential campaign was crushed by the weight of his debate gaffe and stump speech mishaps, the governor who spent 14 years presiding over Texas is launching his second bid for the Republican nomination on Thursday. He's ditched the signature cowboy boots and added black-rimmed glasses. He's spent the intervening years recovering from health problems and boning up on policy. Now, Perry will ask GOP primary voters for a second chance.

FULL TITLE: Rick Perry will decide on a White House run in 30 days, telling South Carolinians that 'it's not that difficult' to secure the US-Mexico border and the White House battle is really about the Supreme Court * Insisted Barack Obama has failed because he had to learn executive leadership 'on the job' * Said the next president could dictate the course of religious-freedom laws by choosing ideologically driven Supreme Court justices *Spoke to a standing-room crowd of 150 at a BBQ joint near Greenville, SC * Suggested he would devolve more control to state governments as president Former...

Rick Perry may run for president again, and he made the case at a Republican dinner last night that Americans are ready to move past a “young, very attractive” President Obama. According to NBCDFW, Perry made the case for a Republican president (not necessarily him) who’s more than just a “critic-in-chief,” but also a “tested, results-oriented executive who has a record of accomplishment.” And just like in past years, Perry brought up the critique of Obama that he lacked any executive experience before he became president. Perry told the Republican crowd the country is ready to move past “eight...

AUSTIN – A state judge on Tuesday refused to throw out an indictment accusing former Gov. Rick Perry of abusing his veto authority to try to force out a local prosecutor. Perry, who is actively eyeing another presidential bid, was indicted last summer. The charges stem from his 2013 threat to veto funding for a public corruption unit overseen by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg unless she resigned after a drunken-driving arrest. Lehmberg stayed in office after serving jail time, and Perry axed the funding. The Republican said that Lehmberg, a Democrat, had lost the public’s confidence. A grand...

AUSTIN, Texas – A Texas judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss a felony abuse-of-power case against former Gov. Rick Perry on constitutional grounds, ruling that criminal charges against the possible 2016 presidential candidate should stand. In 44 pages of decisions and orders, District Judge Bert Richardson, who like Perry is a Republican, rejected calls from Perry's pricy defense team to toss the case because its client was acting within his rights as chief executive of America's second-most populous state when he publicly threatened, then carried out, a 2013 veto of state funding for public corruption prosecutors.

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE JANUARY 15, 2015 3:30 PM Rick Perry Rides Again And it looks like he’s ready.By Eliana Johnson Austin, Texas — In the fall of 2002, when Jeb Bush was running for reelection as governor of Florida, his older brother made several visits to the Sunshine State to campaign on his behalf. It was a dozen years ago, but a former aide to George W. Bush recalls the scene easily. Air Force One sat on the tarmac in Tampa. On board, the governor was sitting with presidential aides around a table in the plane’s conference room. When the...

Rick Perry has been on a subtle campaign since November of 2012, and he has done it well. The Texas Governor has wooed away companies from multiple states by showing off the energetic business environment, he has engaged in national political discussions through videos, social media, and op-eds, and he has kept his name, and more importantly, the record of the state he governs, in the news. But now we have the news of two criminal indictments. Leading Conservatives Gather For Republican Leadership Conference In New OrleansThis indictment is filled with the distilled essence of progressive projection. An out of...

As you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, a grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on two felony counts late Friday. Perry is the first Texas governor to be indicted in office since 1917. He was indicted for threatening to veto funds for the Public Integrity Unit of Travis County’s district attorney’s office, because the head of that office, District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, had been caught drunk driving, and was later caught on tape abusing her power to try to get out of the DWI charge. Though that office runs out of Travis County, it has statewide jurisdiction over elected officials...

In a sign that the indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry for abuse of office and coercion may not be having the political effects some have hoped for, Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican junior senator from Texas, has taken to his Facebook page to express support for the governor. Cruz is considered a possible rival to Perry for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. However differences are being set aside, at least for the time being, to rally around Perry.“Unfortunately, there has been a sad history of the Travis County District Attorney's Office engaging in politically-motivated prosecutions, and this...

A Travis County grand jury Friday indicted Gov. Rick Perry on two charges related to his effort last year to force District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after her drunken driving arrest.

The Republican governor is accused of abusing his official powers by publicly promising to veto $7.5 million for the state public integrity unit at the Travis County District Attorney's office. He was indicted by an Austin grand jury Friday.