Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and one-time favorite among evangelicals, said Thursday he has no plans to leave the presidential race anytime soon, despite his poor showings in the last four contests.
Asked about comments from his top adviser, Armstrong Williams, that he may leave the race March 2 if he doesn’t do well on Tuesday, Carson dismissed them and said he wasn’t leaving the race.
“It doesn’t really matter. You could talk to 10 people and they’ll say you have to do it here and you have to do it now. That’s just so irrelevant,” Carson told CNN’s John Berman, just hours before a CNN debate on Thursday night. “What’s relevant is what direction are you going in. How much support do you have and what are you trying to accomplish.”
Carson has struggled after a high-profile campaign shakeup at the start of the year. Carson joked earlier this week that his former campaign aides “didn’t really seem to understand finances,” though he has had a prolific fundraising operation throughout the race.
“Well, this is in the state of Sen. (Ted) Cruz, so obviously he needs to do very well in his own state,” Carson said when asked who had the most to lose in Thursday night’s debate.
Cruz and Carson have had a strained relationship since the night of the Iowa caucuses, when Cruz staffers falsely told caucus attendees that Carson was dropping out of the race.
Cruz has a lot riding on Texas, where he is banking on a big win in his home state to stop Donald Trump from steamrolling to the nomination.
Carson also said that every candidate should release their tax returns, saying, “I think we should all do that” when asked if Trump should release his tax returns. But Carson was unaware if he had released his own tax returns.