Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke announced on Friday that he is dropping out of the 2020 presidential race.
“Though it is difficult to accept, it is clear to me now that this campaign does not have the means to move forward successfully. My service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee,” O’Rourke wrote in a Medium post titled “Thank you.”
The former candidate also said he would be working to support the future Democratic nominee to ensure that they defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
“I can tell you firsthand from having the chance to know the candidates, we will be well served by any one of them, and I’m going to be proud to support whoever that nominee is,” O’Rourke wrote. “And proud to call them President in January 2021, because they will win.”
Our campaign has always been about seeing clearly, speaking honestly, and acting decisively.
In that spirit: I am announcing that my service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee. https://t.co/8jrBPGuX4t
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) November 1, 2019
According to campaign communications director Rob Friedlander, “Beto will not be a candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas in 2020.”
In his Medium post, O’Rourke thanked his supporters and urged them to keep fighting for their shared goals.
“I decided to run for President because I believed that I could help bring a divided country together in common cause to confront the greatest set of challenges we’ve ever faced. I also knew that the most fundamental of them is fear — the fear that Donald Trump wants us to feel about one another; the very real fear that too many in this country live under; and the fear we sometimes feel when it comes to doing the right thing, especially when it runs counter to what is politically convenient or popular,” he wrote. “I knew, and I still know, that we can reject and overcome these fears and choose to instead be defined by our ambitions and our ability to achieve them.”
“Though today we are suspending this campaign, let us each continue our commitment to the country in whatever capacity we can,” he continued, pointing to the ongoing fight to end gun violence, dismantle structural racism, and combat climate change. “Thank you for making this campaign possible, and for continuing to believe that we can turn this moment of great peril into a moment of great promise for America and the world.”
Candidate Elizabeth Warren, who is still in the race, thanked O’Rourke for championing the fight against gun violence.
Thank you, @BetoORourke. Your commitment to ending gun violence and uplifting the voices of the victims and their families has made this presidential race—and our country—stronger. I look forward to working together in the fight to end gun violence.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) November 1, 2019
“Your commitment to ending gun violence and uplifting the voices of the victims and their families has made this presidential race–and our country–stronger,” Senator Warren tweeted. “I look forward to working together in the fight to end gun violence.”
