Republican US presidential candidate Jeb Bush announces that he is suspending his presidential campaign at a primary election night party in Columbia, South Carolina, February 20, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said on Saturday he was suspending his campaign after a disappointing finish in the South Carolina primary.

Bush, who also fared poorly in earlier contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, said the race had been "hard fought" but that voters of those three states had spoken. In what appeared to be a jab at Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, whom Bush has accused of lacking ideas, the former Florida Governor said, "ideas matter, policy matters."

Bush, the son of former president George H.W. Bush and brother to former president George W. Bush, entered the 2016 campaign as the favorite, but was unable to convert a sizable fundraising advantage into success at the polls.