Delaney drops out of White House race days before Iowa
January 31, 2020
Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney on Friday dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary, just three days before the first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa where he had staked his long-shot candidacy.
"It has been a privilege to campaign for the Democratic nomination for President, but it is clear that God has a different purpose for me at this moment in time," Delaney said in a statement. "I leave this race with a profound sense of gratitude to the voters who shared with me their hopes and concerns for our magnificent country, in admiration for the other contenders for the nomination and proud of the work we did to change the debate."
Delaney's campaign said his decision was "informed by internal analyses indicating John's support is not sufficient to meet the 15% viability in a material number of caucus precincts, but sufficient enough to cause other moderate candidates to not to make the viability threshold, especially in rural areas where John has campaigned harder than anyone."
Delaney launched his presidential bid in July 2017, campaigning in Iowa ever since and visiting every county in the state. But support for the former congressman among likely Democratic caucusgoers rounded to 0 percent in a Des Moines Register/Mediacom/CNN survey released earlier this month, and he has not appeared on a primary debate stage since July.
During that televised forum in Detroit, Delaney clashed with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, excoriating his progressive rival for her ambitious policy proposals. The most memorable moment from their exchange, however, was Warren's apparent rebuke of Delaney’s candidacy: "I don't understand why anybody goes through all the trouble of running for president of the United States to talk about what we can't do and shouldn't fight for."
With his announcement Friday, Delaney becomes the fourth Democratic White House hopeful to exit the race since the start of the new year, following New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, self-help author Marianne Williamson and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro.
Only a handful of similarly low-polling candidates remain in the field ahead of the first nominating contest in Iowa, among them Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
Although Delaney declined to endorse one of his former competitors — instead pledging that he is "fully committed to supporting our nominee" — his campaign said in its statement that he "strongly believes the Democratic Party should advance candidates with progressive values on the big issues of our time, but who are committed to governing with pragmatic, fact-based, bipartisan solutions."
Source: https://www.politico.com/
