Cory Booker Drops Out Of 2020 Presidential Race
Cory Booker announced on Monday (Jan. 13) that he is “suspending my campaign for president.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, the New Jersey Senator had long lagged behind the leading Democratic candidates in national polls and failed to qualify for two consecutive Democratic primary debates, including Tuesday’s upcoming debate in Iowa.
In an email to supporters, Booker said, “It’s with a full heart that I share this news—I’ve made the decision to suspend my campaign for president,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Our campaign has reached the point where we need more money to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win—money we don’t have, and money that is harder to raise because I won’t be on the next debate stage and because the urgent business of impeachment will rightly be keeping me in Washington.”
Booker, 50, was running to be the nation’s second Black president and was one of three Black candidates in the historically diverse Democratic field, the Wall Street Journal reports.
With Booker’s departure from the race, following Sen. Kamala Harris, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is now the only Black candidate remaining in the 12-candidate Democratic primary, NBC News reports.
"Nearly one year ago, I got in the race for president because I believed to my core that the answer to the common pain Americans are feeling right now, the answer to Donald Trump’s hatred and division, is to reignite our spirit of common purpose to take on our biggest challenges and build a more just and fair country for everyone," Booker said in the email to supporters, NBC News reports. "I’ve always believed that. I still believe that. I’m proud I never compromised my faith in these principles during this campaign to score political points or tear down others."
Booker continued, "And maybe I’m stubborn, but I’ll never abandon my faith in what we can accomplish when we join together. I will carry this fight forward — I just won’t be doing it as a candidate for president this year."
