Warren out of race

House to stay white, male as ‘diverse’ Democrat field dwindles

DEMOCRAT Elizabeth Warren has ended her oncepromising presidential campaign after failing to finish higher than third in any of the 18 states that have so far voted.

While the Massachusetts senator said she was proud of her bid, she was also candid in her disappointment that a diverse field was essentially now down to two men.

“All those little girls who are going to have to wait four more years,” Ms Warren said, her voice cracking. “That’s going to be hard.”

Known for having “a plan for that”, Ms Warren had fired up progressive voters for much of the past year with proposals addressing issues such as maternal health care, college debt and criminal justice reform.

She planned to pay for her ambitious proposals with a tax on fortunes of more than $50 million.

Ms Warren failed to capture any of the 14 states that voted on Super Tuesday and finished an embarrassing third in her home state Massachusetts.

The Democratic contest now centres on Senator Bernie Sanders and the former vicepresident Joe Biden.

They are both white men aged in their late 70s – a fact that is prompting soul-searching for some Democrats who had heralded the historic diversity that characterised the early days of the primary.

Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard is still in the race but faces steep odds and has won just two delegates.

“I think we all have to really interrogate why being someone other than someone who looks like almost every other president we’ve had, in terms of age and gender, why everything else is seen as risky,” one Democrat party member said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would rally behind the Democratic nominee, but lamented the challenges facing women in politics. “Every time I get introduced as the most powerful woman, I almost cry because I wish that were not true,” she said.