Pete Buttigieg suspends presidential campaign

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 2 March 2020

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced on Sunday night he is suspending his presidential campaign.

Buttigieg told supporters in South Bend that he values the truth, and "the truth is, the path has narrowed to a close for our candidacy, if not for our cause." Buttigieg promised he will "do everything in my power to ensure we have a new Democratic president come January," and will work to "bring our party and our country together."

The United States, Buttigieg said, is "hungry for new politics," and his campaign found "countless Americans ready to support a middle class millennial mayor from the industrial Midwest not in spite of that experience, but because of it." Buttigieg also hopes that by becoming the first openly gay man to run for president, it sent a message "to every kid out there wondering if whatever marks them out as different means they are somehow destined to be less than, to see that someone who once felt that exact same way can become a leading American presidential candidate with his husband at his side."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox