Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke has dropped out of the 2020 presidential race, according to The New York Times.
“Our campaign has always been about seeing clearly, speaking honestly, and acting decisively,” O’Rourke announced on Twitter. “In that spirit: I am announcing that my service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee.”
O’Rourke tweeted a lengthy statement about why he decided to end his campaign.
“I am grateful to all the people who made up the heart and soul of this campaign. You were among the hundreds of thousands who made a donation, signed up to volunteer or spread the word about this campaign and our opportunity to help decide the election of our lifetime.
“Let us continue to fearlessly champion the issues and causes that brought us together. Whether it is ending the epidemic of gun violence or dismantling structural racism or successfully confronting climate change, we will continue to organize and mobilize and act.
“We will work to ensure that the Democratic nominee is successful in defeating Donald Trump in 2020. 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 she or he is.
“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.”
O’Rourke decided to end his campaign earlier this week before Democratic candidates met together in Iowa, according to The New York Times.
O’Rourke does not plan to run for any other office in 2020 or immediately endorse another candidate.
“His campaign has been under extreme financial strain, and Mr. O’Rourke’s advisers concluded that proceeding in the race might have meant making deep cuts to his staff in order to pay for advertising and other measures to compete in the early primary and caucus state,” according to The New York Times.
President Donald Trump responded to the news in a tweet. O’Rourke actually said he was “born to be in it.”
“Oh no, Beto just dropped out of race for President despite him saying he was ‘born for this.’ I don’t think so!” Trump tweeted.
Social media had a wealth of reaction to the news:
O’Rourke ends his campaign after struggling to find energy or support similar to his 2018 Senate run out in Texas. One of his biggest moments came in the third Democratic debate when he said he would take away the guns of American citizens.
“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” said O’Rourke. “We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans any more.”
His comments aligned with a “gun buyback” program, something experts disputed to the Deseret News.
“The main concern today is that gun buybacks simply have not yielded the guns that are most likely to be used in a violent crime,” Michael Scott, clinical professor at the Arizona State University School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and director of the Center for Problem Oriented Policing, told the Deseret News.