Buttigieg exits US presidential race ahead of ‘Super Tuesday’
- Move comes after Joe Biden won a major victory in South Carolina
- Buttigieg, a 38-year-old Afghanistan war veteran, narrowly won the Iowa caucuses last month
Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay US presidential candidate from a major party, on Sunday ended his campaign to be the Democratic nominee in the November election against Donald Trump.
The 38-year-old had risen rapidly from being a virtual unknown to becoming a national political figure, but he scored poorly in the latest primary in South Carolina, coming fourth with just eight per cent.
Speaking in South Bend, Buttigieg said his campaign began its “unlikely journey” with a staff of four, no big email lists and no personal fortune.
“We got into this race in order to defeat the current president and in order to usher in a new kind of politics,” Buttigieg told a crowd of supporters. Now, he said, it was time to “step aside and help bring our party and our country together”.
In a tweet, Joe Biden said Buttigieg had run a “trail-blazing campaign based on courage, compassion, and honesty,” adding: “This is just the beginning of his time on the national stage”.
Buttigieg emerged as the surprise major player in the contest when securing a narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses, earning widespread attention for his unflustered and professional approach in an often bitter Democratic nomination battle.