Breaking: Pete Buttigieg Ends Historic White House Bid

The New York Times reports:

Pete Buttigieg, the former small-city Indiana mayor and first openly gay major presidential candidate, has decided to quit the Democratic race, a person briefed on Mr. Buttigieg’s plans said on Sunday, following a crushing loss in the South Carolina primary where his poor performance with black Democrats signaled an inability to build a broad coalition of voters.

Mr. Buttigieg, 38, narrowly won the Iowa caucuses early last month and came in a strong second place in the New Hampshire primary, exciting liberal white Democrats with his cool, hyper-articulate manner. But he never broadened his breadth of support in a party with a nonwhite base, and one that has veered leftward since 2018.

He came in a distant third in the Nevada caucuses, which drew strong numbers of Latino voters, and then fourth place in South Carolina, where black voters made up a majority of the Democratic electorate. He won just 3 percent of them, according to exit polls.

He’s out but I’m pretty sure America has not heard the last from @PeteButtigieg https://t.co/UMNJ8DGBEV

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) March 1, 2020

Buttigieg aide says they didn’t see a clear path to the nomination. Buttigieg will give a speech about unity tonight. Unclear if that includes an endorsement.

— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) March 1, 2020

Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, and all those who competed for votes and gutted it out in countless town halls, endless plane rides, and rubber chicken dinners before ending their campaigns gave more to their races than all of Bloomberg’s dollars.

— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) March 1, 2020