U.S. Senate candidate Sen. Frank Lasee, R-De Pere, announced Sunday he will drop out of the race for Herb Kohl’s Senate seat in Washington, saying it was not the right time to run.

“After much consideration and prayer with my wife, Amy and I have determined this is not the right time to run for the U.S. Congress,” Lasee said in a statement Sunday. “We thank everyone that has helped us and encouraged us along the way.”

According to the Wisconsin State Legislature’s website, Lasee was in the Assembly from 1994 to 2006 and then won his district’s Senate seat in 2010.

The three Republicans still in the race include Speaker of the State Assembly Rep. Fitzgerald, R- Horicon, former U.S. Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann and former Gov. Tommy Thompson. U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D- Madison, is currently the only candidate running on the Democratic ticket.

Jay Heck, Common Cause in Wisconsin director, said Lasee likely dropped out because he was lagging behind in the polls and probably having trouble raising money.

Heck said competing with with big names like Thompson made Lasee a long shot from the start. He said Lasee was mostly just exploring the idea of running for U.S. Senate.

Neumann’s campaign manager Chip Englander said Lasee’s decision to drop out would not affect Neumann’s campaign and Neumann would continue traveling the state, promoting a conservative approach to government with a balanced budget.

Baldwin’s campaign spokesperson Phil Walzak said that despite Lasee’s disappearance from the race, the GOP primary would still be brutal.

“The Republican food fight is shifting to the right,” Walzak said. “All of the candidates are trying to ‘out-conservative’ each other and appeal to the Tea Party base. It will not matter who emerges from the primary election because they wont appeal to the values of most of Wisconsin.”

In an email to The Badger Herald, Thompson for Senate spokesperson Darrin Schmitz said it was unfortunate Lasee decided to withdraw from the race.

” […] Thompson wishes him well as he focuses on his work in the state Legislature as it is important to keeping the Republican and Governor Walker agenda moving forward,” Schmitz said in the email.

Schmitz said the former governor leads in all primary and general election polls and expects Thompson to be the top fundraiser for the fourth quarter once reports are filed today.

Quarterly campaign finance reports from all candidates were due to the Federal Elections Commission at midnight Monday.

In a statement released from Thompson’s campaign Monday, Thompson reported raising more than $650,000 in the last quarter of 2011 and has nearly $550,000 cash on hand. The statement said Thompson has raised $130,000 more than Neumann.

The Associated Press reported Monday Neumann raised $518,000 last quarter. Baldwin raised $1.1 million during the reporting period and currently has $1.8 million cash on hand.

Fitzgerald had yet to report his campaign finances as of press time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.