Valerie Meyers of Bonaire announced Wednesday that she is ending her quest for the Republican nomination to run against 8th District Congressman Jim Marshall, D-GA.

Meyers said funding was the major reason for the decision.

“We were struggling to make finances and get the money we needed to qualify by the end of the month,” she said Thursday morning. “So I made the tough decision to withdraw.”

Four Republican hopefuls remain in the race: Paul Rish, Diane Vann and Angela Hicks of Bibb County and Ken Deloach of Warner Robins.

Meyers said tough economic times were making campaign financing especially challenging this year.

“And so I thought it was unfair to take funds out of the pool for other candidates,” she indicated.

Myers said she had lost none of her enthusiasm for the race. In an April 7 letter e-mailed to supporters announcing the decision, she predicted Republicans will retake Congress in the fall, including unseating Marshall.

“I pledge to do all I can to help assure the eventual Republican nominee in this race is elected in November,” she added.

Myers declined to endorse one of the remaining candidates. “But I definitely will help whoever the candidate is,” she said.

This was Myers’ first venture as a political candidate, although she has been active in Republican politics for many years. She said there were dozens of lessons learned.

“First, I got into the race in November of last year and that’s too late,” she pointed out. “You have to start at least a year in advance of the primary to build your campaign organization and gain name recognition. I had zero name recognition when I started.”

See said the size of the 8th District is a major issue.

“You may have name recognition in one part and none in another area,” Myers noted. “So it’s hard to gain ground even inside the party.”

She declined to rule out a future run for political office.