We reached out to several Jewish Insider readers who were major Walker donors and bundlers for their reaction to the news that Scott Walker is dropping out of the 2016 race. 

Marc Goldman of Boca Raton, Florida: “As the candidate who has proven his ability to make big changes, get things done in the face of intense opposition, and fix his state, the country is worse off without Walker as a candidate and as president. The good news is that we still have some excellent candidates, and a long way to go to get a nominee.”

Dr. Rich Roberts of Lakewood, New Jersey, to our own Jared Sichel: “Scott Walker is a brilliant, principled, altruistic politician who would have been a great president… His values are very much intact and aligned with Jewish values. Lastly, he understands the nature and thinking of foreign leaders and nations who would destroy America and Israel if they were able to — versus many American politicians who try to deceptively present our enemies in a preconceived politically-correct, but factually incorrect, manner. Scott Walker is a truly humble, G-d fearing, man.”

“I was surprised that Scott took a shot at Trump in his announcement to exit the presidential race. Blaming his exit on the need to coalesce against Trump, at a time when Scott’s numbers have fallen off of a cliff, seems possibly disingenuous from an otherwise highly principled and honest person. On the other hand, although not a Jewish perspective but more of an Evangelical belief, Scott believes that some of his inner thoughts are messages directly from G-d so it is possible that he is sincere in believing his stated reason for exiting now. At a luncheon in my home, in front of an Orthodox Jewish group who was not familiar with this Evangelical belief, he was questioned on it and my discomfort was relieved when the questioner did not follow up on Scott’s answer. This is Scott’s sincere belief.”

“I met with Scott and his wife Tonette privately at my home on August 31st. I told them that Scott had to “swing for the bleachers” at the next debate. He had to go for a grand slam or a strike out but playing it safe, or being mild mannered, would severely hurt him… On another topic, I told him about a major campaign management issue that he was having. Since I believe that he is a skillful manager, I thought that he might take action to rectify the deficiencies in his organization. He and Tonette thanked me for being straight forward with them, versus praising them, and that they would contact me again. I was not contacted and he did not adopt any of my suggestions.”

“After the second debate, I told my family and friends that if Scott could not carve out a place for himself in the two Republican debates then I was very concerned that Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden will overwhelm him in the presidential debates. It appears that Scott is too nice of a person for whom loud, angry interpersonal conflict is not within his arsenal of skills.”

Asked which candidate he will now endorse, Roberts told JI: “I am going to wait for a while. There are many excellent Republican candidates. I would be happy with any of them being president except for two. I will not name the two at this time.”

Phil Rosen, who has already endorsed Marco Rubio, told us: “Walker is an excellent Governor, leader and gentleman. I spent lots of time with him and like him a lot. I think he added a lot to the race with his intelligence, even-keel approach and strong moral principles. I look forward to working with and supporting him in his future endeavors. I look forward to my many friends who supported Governor Walker in this Presidential effort join me in helping Senator Rubio on his path to victory and returning greatness to the White House and the country.”