Somewhat surprising news that retired Raleigh businessman Garland Tucker is dropping his challenge to U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis in the upcoming Republican primary.

“I cannot continue to fund the campaign personally at the level of the past 7 months; donor contributions during the impeachment process have been insufficient to bridge the gap; and there is no access to national conservative funding. In addition, even aside from the unlikelihood of raising these additional funds, there are real questions as to how effective campaign advertising would be during the impeachment hearings,” he wrote.

The letter cited the attention on the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump as well as Tillis’ role as one of his defenders in the Senate as a reason for Tucker’s decision to end his campaign.

“Impeachment has dramatically sucked the oxygen out of our campaign discussion and greatly curtailed our fundraising ability,” he wrote.

Tucker invested heavily in television and radio ads very early in the campaign when voters’ attention was turned elsewhere.