Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter dropped out of the race for the White House Saturday.

Hunter, a California congressman, Vietnam veteran and evangelical Christian, tried to appeal largely on his anti-illegal immigration platform but never gained traction in the primary race.

He did best in Wyoming, where he won 8 percent of the vote, finishing third behind Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.

In the Iowa caucuses, Hunter came in a distant seventh place with less than 1 percent, only beating Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who already had dropped out of the race. He also finished with less than 1 percent in the New Hampshire and Michigan primaries and got 2 percent in South Carolina. He didn't get on the board in the Nevada caucuses.

"We thought we'd do much better in Nevada, but the numbers weren't there," said campaign spokesman Bob Bevill. "We were not able to get any traction."

In recent weeks Hunter, a California congressman, was forced at every stop to dispel rumors that the campaign was already dead and was unable to talk about the issues, Bevill said.

"The media has a 'vote someone off the island' mentality and Duncan Hunter was a casualty of that," said Bevill.

Hunter was elected to Congress in 1980 as part of President Reagan's sweep into power. He appealed to some conservatives by focusing on military issues, competition from China and border security. During his statement on his plans to depart the campaign, Hunter said he had achieved success by getting the other candidates to speak about his concerns.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.