A former New York secretary of state, Randy Daniels, who is announcing today that he’s dropping out of the governor’s race, said his departure “guarantees” that the two remaining candidates seeking the Republican nomination, John Faso and William Weld, will face off in a Republican primary.

In an interview with The New York Sun, Mr. Daniels said his backing of Mr. Faso ensures that the former assemblyman from upstate will get at least 25% of the support from the delegates at the Republican Convention in June, and thus a spot on the primary ballot.

His exit from the race hasn’t dulled his opinion of Mr. Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts who moved to Manhattan after leaving office in the 1990s and who is the favored candidate of the state party chairman. Of Mr. Weld, he said, “I’ve always thought he had no rationale for running, and after listening to him for a year, I still think he has no rationale for running.”

He said: “I’ve known John longer, and I know where John’s heart is. I don’t know Bill Weld. I don’t know what Bill Weld believes.”

Messrs. Faso and Weld are in a virtual dead heat in opinion polls, but both candidates trail far behind the leading Democratic candidate, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The two candidates advocate conservative fiscal policies, like cutting taxes and reducing the size of government, but Mr. Weld leans to the left of Mr. Faso on a variety of social issues. Mr. Weld’s positions on abortion and gay marriage have not endeared him to the Conservative Party, which is on the verge of endorsing Mr. Faso.

Mr. Daniels, whose campaign tried to shine attention on Mr. Faso’s previous work as a lobbyist in an effort to tarnish the candidate’s reformist credentials, said the attack strategy never caught on. “Nobody seem to think it’s a big deal, so we are done with that issue,” he said.”

A talented orator and a former Democrat who switched parties in the 1990s to join the Pataki administration, Mr. Daniels was the only African American in the race. Invoking the principles and words of Ronald Reagan, Mr. Daniels sought to ignite his campaign through promises that he would resurrect the Republican Party in the state. He called for major structural changes to government functions, like sharply reducing the number of school districts, and also said the state should freeze spending for three years.

He built his campaign on two majors assumptions: One was that as a black candidate with strong ties to Harlem he could “crack” the New York City vote in the general election. The other was that his job as secretary of state put him in constant touch with local officials around the state and created a network of relationships that would help him in upstate areas.

While he was one of the first candidates to declare an interest in running, his campaign never found its footing. In a straw poll of county party chairmen late last year, Mr. Daniels received almost no support, with the vote split between Mr. Faso and Mr. Weld.

Mr. Daniels said the problem was the party chairman, Stephen Minarik, never had faith that he could raise enough money. “They wanted Bill Weld. They felt Weld could raise $50 million, and I couldn’t,” he said. “It was my view that if they got behind me, I could raise $50 million, but it was a difference of opinion.”