Perry endorses Romney after Gingrich signals an exit

By Justin Sink - 04/25/12 09:21 PM ET

Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Wednesday night that he would endorse Mitt Romney's presidential bid, hours after the campaign of Newt Gingrich — Perry's previous choice — announced that the former Speaker would be ending his bid for the White House.

"Mitt Romney has earned the Republican presidential nomination through hard work, a strong organization and disciplined message of restoring America after nearly four years of failed job-killing policies from President Obama and his administration," said Gov. Perry in a statement released by his campaign. "So today I join the many conservative Republicans across the nation in endorsing Mitt Romney for president and pledge to him, my constituents and the Republican Party that I will continue to work hard to help defeat President Obama."

Perry, who aborted his presidential bid in January after a series of debate gaffes sent his poll numbers into a freefall, went on to praise Romney's biography.

"American jobs, economic stability and national security depend on electing a new president. Mitt's vision and record of private-sector success will put America back on the path of job creation, economic opportunity and limited government," Perry said.

Perry was one of the last prominent holdouts to announce support for Romney, opting instead to stay pledged to Gingrich while the former Speaker remained in the race. Other Gingrich supporters, including fellow former presidential hopeful Herman Cain, had signaled that they were coalescing around Romney.

Romney and Perry shared some of the primary campaign's most bitter moments, with Perry accusing the eventual nominee of flip-flopping and Romney's campaign saying Perry had resorted to "dishonest tactics in order to prop up his flailing campaign."

While Perry struck a supportive tone in his statement Wednesday, he might not be rooting too hard for Romney to succeed. The governor said as recently as last week that he is interested in running for president again in 2016.

“Yeah, I am. I love this country. As long as my health stays good, as it is, and my family is supportive, I’m certainly going to give it a good examination," Perry told CBS.