Trailing presidential pack, Booker drops out of 2020 election
(CN) — New Jersey Senator Cory Booker suspended his campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential election on Monday, having failed now to qualify for back-to-back Democratic debates.
“It was a difficult decision to make, but I got in this race to win, and I’ve always said I wouldn’t continue if there was no longer a path to victory,” he said in an email to supporters this morning.
“Our campaign has reached the point where we need more money to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win — money we don’t have, and money that is harder to raise because I won’t be on the next debate stage and because the urgent business of impeachment will rightly be keeping me in Washington.”
As compared with Senator Bernie Sanders, who led the Democratic pack with $34.5 million in fourth-quarter campaign contributions, Booker closed out 2019 with just $6.6 million in the last quarter.
In a thank-you video, Booker said he can’t wait to get back on the campaign trail and crusade for the eventual Democratic nominee. He called his campaign “one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.”
A Rhodes scholar and former Newark mayor, Booker polled at just 3% last month, tied with businessman Andrew Yang and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Booker’s departure, following Senator Kamala Harris’s dropout last month, leaves former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick as the only black candidate remaining.
“.@CoryBooker is a trail blazer and truth teller, and is one of the most important voices in our country,” Patrick wrote on Twitter Monday. “I love and respect him, and I congratulate him on running a meaningful and joyful campaign.”
Booker campaigned on issues such as fixing the racial wealth gap and clemency for nonviolent drug offenders.
“We may have not reached our ultimate goal, but over the last year I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many incredible, inspiring, engaged people all over this country, and I am more confident now than ever that together we will rise,” he wrote to supporters (emphasis in original).