https://www.facebook.com/petebuttigieg1/videos/253440635656057/
March 2 (UPI) — Pete Buttigieg announced Sunday night he was suspending his 2020 presidential campaign after finishing fourth in the South Carolina primary over the weekend.
Before supporters in South Bend, Ind., their former mayor said his campaign had accomplished much over the past year, but its “path has narrowed to a close,” and he vowed to do everything in his power to ensure the next president is a Democrat.
He said he joined the race to defeat President Donald Trump and to usher in a “new kind of politics” guided by a set of values that include respect, teamwork, boldness, joy and truth.
One of those values, he said, was responsibility, which required him to consider the effects that remaining in the race would have on achieving their goals of helping to unify Americans and defeat Trump.
“So we must recognize that, at this point in the race, the best way to keep faith with those goals and ideals is to step aside and help bring our party and our country together,” he said. “So tonight, I’m making the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency.”
Buttigieg’s announcement came after he finished fourth behind former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and billionaire Tom Steyer in South Carolina over the weekend, earning 8.2 percent of the vote share.
His campaign began the primary season with a strong start taking Iowa by the slimmest of margins over Sanders, which he followed up with a second-place finish behind the Vermont senator in New Hampshire. However, he finished third last week in Nevada and then fourth in South Carolina.
Buttigieg became the first openly gay man to run for the presidency when he announced his candidacy April 14, outlining the three pillars of his campaign as security, democracy and freedom.
The Afghanistan war veteran was scheduled to campaign in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday but rerouted his chartered plane for South Bend, where he ended his presidential bid.
Before his supporters Sunday night chanting “2024,” he urged them to continue with the work they started.
“There is simply too much at stake to retreat to the sidelines,” he said.
