The Republican contest to be Florida’s next attorney general just narrowed, as former State Rep. Jay Fant has decided to drop out of the race, leaving his House colleague Frank White and former prosecutor and circuit judge Ashley Moody to battle it out until the August primary.

Instead, Fant has decided to apply to be the Commissioner of Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation (OFR), the agency responsible for regulating banking in the state.

Rep. Jay Fant drops out of attorney general's race and will apply to be state's chief banking regulator, reporting to Gov. Rick Scott and Cabinet

— Steve Bousquet (@stevebousquet) June 19, 2018

Fant was mostly a self-funded candidate, with $750,000 of his approximately $1 million total contributions reported to date coming from a loan he made to his campaign. He had been struggling to get ahead in the race, his attempts to attack Moody falling short, and undoubtedly views his chances of success much better with this Cabinet position.

As Florida Politics noted, the appointment is under the control of Gov. Rick Scott, and the governor has said positive comments about Fant in the past, and Fant’s private sector experience in the banking industry is a fit for the job.

Follow Sarah Rumpf on Twitter: @rumpfshaker.