Democrat Buttigieg suspends campaign ahead of Super Tuesday

Democrat Pete Buttigieg who became a top tier candidate on the strength of his televised appearances and in-person appeal and who gained momentum into the Iowa caucuses where he claimed a win among delegates, is ending his campaign.

Sources within the campaign said Buttigieg wanted to start uniting the party and not further divide the vote on Super Tuesday, when voters in 14 states will cast ballots and roughly 34% of the delegates for the Democratic nomination will be awarded.

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., won the most delegates in the Iowa caucuses, but was unable to fully capitalize on momentum from that victory after technical snafu threw the contest into chaos.

He finished a narrow second to Sen. Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary eight days later, but has slid since, with a distant third-place finish in Nevada and an even more dismal fourth-place finish in South Carolina on Saturday.

Buttigieg’s move comes two days before the pivotal Super Tuesday contest as Democratic presidential contenders Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, who won South Carolina, have emerged as frontrunners.

Buttigieg shot to fame this cycle as a whip-smart newcomer who demonstrated fundraising prowess. He won 21 of the 31 counties in Iowa that flipped from President Obama to Donald Trump in 2016, and won 63 of the state’s 99 counties.

He was the first openly gay candidate to seriously contend for the presidency. But while he was dominant among white voters, Buttigieg struggled to gain traction among voters of color, which became increasingly apparent in his low finishes in Nevada and South Carolina. He was also unable to benefit fully from his second-place finish in New Hampshire after his narrative was overpowered by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s surprise third-place showing in the Granite State.

Just days ago, on Feb. 25, the campaign sent out a strategy memo saying “there is a definitive path for Pete to secure the Democratic nomination” and arguing Buttigieg was the best candidate to “beat Bernie Sanders in the primary.”

The memo outlined a goal to “minimize Sanders’ margins” on Super Tuesday and “rack up delegates” in contests later in March that were “much more favorable” to the Buttigieg campaign.

The Sunday evening announcement comes a day after California billionaire Tom Steyer dropped out of the race.

While Democratic candidates tweeted compliments for Buttigieg’s run, President Trump chided the Democratic frontrunners.

“Pete Buttigieg is OUT. All of his SuperTuesday 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!”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2wnsdKQ