On Sunday night, Pete Buttigieg ended his campaign for President. Buttigieg officially made the announcement during a hastily planned event on Sunday in South Bend, where the former mayor said “today is a moment of truth… the truth is the path has narrowed to a close, for our candidacy, if not for our cause. So we must recognize that at this point in the race the best way to keep faith with those goals and ideals is to step aside and help bring our party and our country together. So tonight, I am making the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency.” Buttigieg added: “We have a responsibility to concede the effect of remaining in this race any further. Our goal has always been to help unify Americans to defeat Donald Trump and to win the era for our values.”
Buttigieg’s run was historic, as the first openly gay man to launch a campaign for president. However after initial success in Iowa and New Hampshire, Buttigieg’s campaign struggled to win over voters of color, a key base to the Democratic Party, which hurt his performance in Nevada and South Carolina, two states where Buttigieg finished significantly behind the race’s frontrunners.
Buttigieg was scheduled to fly from Selma, Alabama, to Dallas, Texas, on Sunday, but during the flight he informed reporters that he would be flying back to his hometown of South Bend to make an announcement on the future of his campaign. Supporters in the audience in South Bend began chanting “2024! 2024! 2024!” after he ended his run. Buttigieg said, “I know that as this campaign ends, there comes disappointment that we won’t continue. But I hope that everyone who has been part of this in any way knows that he campaign that you have built and the community that you have created is only the beginning of the change that we are going to make together.”
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