Sen. Kamala Harris is dropping out of the presidential race, multiple news outlets reported Tuesday.
The California Democrat, who was once among leading contenders for the party’s presidential nomination, broke the news to her staff on a conference call and in an email to her supporters, and she is expected to release a video announcing her decision. Her departure comes after a months-long fall in state and national polls — and days after the New York Times reported on the turmoil within her campaign.
Harris also informed her supporters via email, and later in a Medium post.
“I’ve taken stock and looked at this from every angle, and over the last few days have come to one of the hardest decisions of my life,” she wrote. “My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue. “I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete. In good faith, I can’t tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do. So, to you my supporters, it is with deep regret — but also with deep gratitude — that I am suspending my campaign today.”
To my supporters, it is with deep regret—but also with deep gratitude—that I am suspending my campaign today.
But I want to be clear with you: I will keep fighting every day for what this campaign has been about. Justice for the People. All the people.https://t.co/92Hk7DHHbR
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 3, 2019
She read the text of the post aloud in a video released later on Tuesday.
It has been the honor of my life to be your candidate. We will keep up the fight. pic.twitter.com/RpZhx3PENl
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 3, 2019
Despite the jab at billionaire self-funders like Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg, Harris wasn’t exactly an enemy of the super rich. Forbes reported in November that Harris took donations from 46 billionaires since January 1st, more than any candidate in the field. It wasn’t money that sunk Harris’ 2020 ambitions, then, so much as it was an inconsistent campaign strategy and a fractured staff that wasn’t able to agree upon how to position Harris in a race that pitted the progressive wing of the party against moderate Democrats like Biden.
Harris’ fall from frontrunner status was precipitous after garnering a wealth of positive press throughout the summer, including a Rolling Stone profile by Jamil Smith. Following her breakout debate performance at the end of June, Harris held a 15.2 percent national polling average, according to RealClearPolitics, good for second in the field behind Joe Biden. Prior to dropping out of the race on Tuesday, her average sat at 3.4 percent, over half of a point behind Bloomberg.
Though Harris is no longer seeking to take President Trump’s place in the White House, she made clear to supporters on Tuesday that she’s far from done fighting to remove him from office. “I want to be clear,” she wrote. “Although I am no longer running for President, I will do everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump and fight for the future of our country and the best of who we are. I know you will too. So let’s do that together. Let’s keep fighting for the America we believe in, an America free of injustice. An America that we know we can be unburdened by what has been.”
This story is developing.
