Buttigieg drops out of race
Wanted to unify party for Super Tuesday
Democrat Pete Buttigieg suspended his presidential campaign Sunday, telling supporters his campaign has a “responsibility to consider” his effect of staying in the race as Super Tuesday approaches.
“The truth is that the path has narrowed to a close, for our candidacy, if not for our cause,” the 35year-old former mayor of South Bend, Ind., told supporters in his hometown. “We have a responsibility to consider the effect of remaining in this race any further.”
Sources within Buttigieg’s campaign said the candidate wants to avoid dividing the vote on Super Tuesday, when voters in 14 states will cast ballots.
Buttigieg, the first openly gay presidential candidate, had a surprising rise with fundraising prowess and early momentum that earned him the most delegates in the Iowa caucuses. That victory was marred by a technical snafu with the caucuses which threw the contest into chaos.
Iowa would prove to be Buttigieg’s peak, as the former mayor finished second in New Hampshire eight days later to U.S. Sen.
Bernie Sanders and had dismal showings in Nevada and South Carolina as he struggled to gain traction among voters of color there.
On Sunday, Buttigieg reflected on his unlikely campaign, as a gay “middle class millennial mayor.”
“We sent a message to every kid out there wondering whatever marks them different,” Buttigieg said, “to see that someone who once felt that exact same way could become a leading presidential candidate with his husband by his side.”
Buttigieg did not endorse a candidate Sunday, and echoed his call for “broad, inclusive politics,” seeming to call on his recent shots at frontrunner Sanders less than a week after a campaign strategy memo targeted minimizing Sanders’ margins on Super Tuesday.
During his 15-minute remarks, Buttigieg suggested a focus on crucial down-ballot races, calling for the race to “send Mitch McConnell into retirement.” Buttigieg did not mention President Trump by name but chided his actions in the executive office.
Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden traded voicemails on Sunday but did not speak, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Biden emerged as a top contender Saturday after winning South Carolina.
While Democratic candidates tweeted compliments for Buttigieg’s run, Trump chided the Democratic frontrunners.
“Pete Buttigieg is OUT. All of his Super Tuesday votes will go to Sleepy Joe Biden. Great timing,” the president tweeted. “This is the REAL beginning of the Dems taking Bernie out of play – NO NOMINATION, AGAIN!”