Bill de Blasio Ends Presidential Campaign
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio ended his presidential campaign Friday on MSNBC’c Morning Joe. “It’s been an extraordinary experience,” de Blasio said. “But I have to tell ya, at the same time, I feel like I’ve contributed all I can to this primary election. It’s clearly not my time.”
De Blasio’s quixotic bid had been the punchline of 2020 almost since the beginning. It ended that way too, just hours after Billy Crystal teased the mayor on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “De Blasio, what are you doing in Iowa? You’re going nowhere, come back and clean up this city,” Crystal said. (De Blasio’s announcement also came hours after the New York Times reported that he sought donations for his nonprofit organization from real estate developers who had business in front of the city government. The developers were later fined tens of thousands of dollars.)
Breaking: Bill de Blasio announces he is ending his presidential campaign pic.twitter.com/vL8GcX3xV5
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) September 20, 2019
In a piece that NBC News published simultaneously with de Blasio’s on-air announcement, the mayor pledged to return to New York to “redouble my efforts to improve the quality of life of everyday New Yorkers.”
De Blasio’s popularity in his home state of New York has plummeted during his White House bid; a recent poll found fewer voters had favorable views of the mayor than even Donald Trump. (Twenty five percent of respondents in the Sienna poll said had a favorable views of de Blasio, compared to 32 percent for the president.)
He did not endorse another candidate.