Pete Buttigieg to pull out of Democratic race for White House

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Reuters

Pete Buttigieg, the former Indiana mayor who made an ambitious run for president, is to end his campaign for the White House, US media report.

The 38-year-old became the first openly gay major-party presidential candidate when he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination.

But despite a successful start, his campaign has failed to gain momentum.

His decision to drop out comes ahead of a key day on Tuesday in the Democratic race to take on Trump.

Fourteen states will vote on Super Tuesday, by the end of which staunch left-winger Bernie Sanders could have an unbeatable lead and be a step closer to the nomination.

Mr Buttigieg surprisingly, and narrowly, won the first event of the primary season, the caucuses in Iowa on 3 February. But he failed to repeat that success and build up crucial delegates, and finished a distant fourth in South Carolina on Saturday.

He also struggled to build support among African-American voters, a point emphasised by his poor showing in South Carolina.

While there has been no formal announcement from Mr Buttigieg’s team, it is expected to confirm the end of his campaign later today.

His departure will leave six Democrats still in the running, including Mr Sanders. They are former vice-president Joe Biden, who won South Carolina convincingly, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, and congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.

How this news will help Biden

Just over a week ago, Pete Buttigieg had a lead in Democratic convention delegates. Now the former South Bend mayor is out of the race.

That’s how quickly fortunes can change in presidential politics.

In the end, Buttigieg simply couldn’t turn his early success into a national wave of support. While he thrived in the months of retail campaigning in the first two small – and exceedingly white – states, the Nevada and South Carolina results amply demonstrated that he was never going to catch on with the more diverse national Democratic electorate.

It’s still a bit of a shock that Buttigieg pulled the plug rather than compete on Super Tuesday. By doing so, however, he avoids the potential for more defeats and helps Joe Biden, who will certainly appreciate the mayor’s move to clear the field for him to better challenge Bernie Sanders one-on-one.

In the end, Buttigieg made an astounding effort, coming from nowhere to seriously challenge for the nomination, winning the Iowa caucuses and raising massive amounts of campaign cash. It’s a remarkable accomplishment for the first openly gay presidential candidate with a difficult-to-pronounce name who was half the age of his closest presidential rivals.

His campaign will be one for the history books.

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