- Beto O’Rourke tweets that he is out of the 2020 race – which he entered with a Vanity Fair cover and proclaiming: ‘Man, I’m just born to be in it.’Ā
- Trump mocked his departure from the Democratic primary field almost immediately saying: ”Born for this.’ I don’t think so!’
- 47-year-old’s campaign was running out of cash and at just 1 per cent in the polls
- 18 candidates are now left in the Democratic field with well under four months until the first primary, New Hampshire, on February 11Ā
- O’Rourke had not qualified for the next two Democratic debates, one in Atlanta this month and one in DecemberĀ
- His staff said he had ‘no plans’ to run for the Senate in 2020 – but that hardly rules it out and Democrats had already been pressing him to do so
- Once reliably-Republican Texas is seen as shifting towards Democrats and party figures had already been pushing O’Rourke to quit and run for Senate
- Scroll down to find out who is still in the raceĀ
Beto O’RourkeĀ announced Friday he is dropping his presidential bid after his campaign spiraled into a free fall despite his shooting out of the starting gate.
‘Our campaign has always been about seeing clearly, speaking honestly, and acting decisively. In that spirit: I am announcing that my service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee,’ he wrote on Twitter.
Donald Trump promptly weighed in on the news, lobby a mocking tweet at the former Texas congressman from Air Force One.
O’Rourke shot to Democratic stardom with his failed bid to take down Texas Senator Ted Cruz in 2018.
He began his presidential campaign like a rock star ā with a cover on Vanity Fair and a presumed front-runner status.