Pete Buttigieg has announced he is ending his campaign for the White House after his campaign lost momentum in recent weeks.
The 38-year-old former Indiana mayor was the first openly gay presidential candidate from a major party.
He told supporters: “We must recognise 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 nation together.
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“So tonight I am making the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency.”
CNN says Buttigieg's run was “historic”, adding that “he broke barriers by becoming the first gay candidate to earn primary delegates for a major party's presidential nomination”.
The BBC points out that his decision to drop out comes ahead of a key day tomorrow in the Democratic race to take on Trump. It says that by the end of Super Tuesday, “staunch left-winger Bernie Sanders could have an unbeatable lead”.
“He studied the math,” a leading Democrat familiar with the Buttigieg campaign said. “He knew there wasn't a path forward.”
President Donald Trump predicted that the main beneficiary of Buttigieg’s exit would be Joe Biden. He tweeted: “Pete Buttigieg is OUT. All of his SuperTuesday votes will go to Sleepy Joe Biden. Great timing. This is the REAL beginning of the Dems taking Bernie out of play - NO NOMINATION, AGAIN!”
Fox News agreed, saying the development “likely will harm frontrunner Sanders by providing a coalescing boost to more moderate candidates, as Buttigieg had gone on the offensive against the Vermont senator and sought to appeal to the centrist base of the party”.
The departure leaves six Democrats still in the running. Buttigieg has not endorsed any single candidate, but has pledged he would do “everything in my power” to ensure a Democratic win in November's election.
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