Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York dropped out of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary on Wednesday, after her campaign to run hardest on feminist issues failed to catch fire.
“Today, I am ending my campaign for president,” she wrote on her Twitter account. “I am so proud of this team and all we’ve accomplished. But I think it’s important to know how you can best serve.”
She said, in an accompanying video, that that means “I can best serve by helping to unite us to beat Donald Trump in 2020” and win back the U.S. Senate.
“Together we’ve taken on the fights others wouldn’t,” she said in the video. “We’ve put the civil rights of women front and center … bringing issues like paid family leave from the back burner to the presidential debate stage.”
According to the New York Times, which first reported the story, the senator decided to leave after having failed to qualify for the third presidential debate next month in Houston.
Ms. Gillibrand did not reach the two thresholds both needed to merit inclusion in the debate — 2% standing in four recognized polls and 130,000 donors across 20 states.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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