MIAMI, Florida- Jamaican-American Democratic Senator Kamala Harris has abruptly ended her 2020 presidential campaign in what she said was “one of the hardest decisions of my life”.
On Tuesday afternoon, after months of failing to raise enough money to up her campaign and increase her chances of nomination, Harris took to Twitter publish that she will no longer be running for president of the United States.
“Eleven months ago at the launch of our campaign in Oakland I told you all: ‘I am not perfect.’ But I will always speak with decency and moral clarity and treat all people with dignity and respect. I will lead with integrity. I will speak the truth. And that’s what I have tried to do every day of this campaign”, the California senator wrote.
“So here’s the truth today, I’ve taken stock and looked at this from every angle, and over the last few days have come to one of the hardest decisions of my life. My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue”, she admitted in the lengthy post to her supporters.
According to The Politico, She made the decision Monday after discussions with her family and senior aides. Harris will travel to the early states this week to thank staff and supporters for their dedication to the campaign.
Harris launched her campaign in front of 20,000 in January 2019. As the first woman and first black attorney general and US senator in California’s history, she was widely viewed as a candidate that excited the same segment of voters who elected Barack Obama for US President.
She raised an impressive US$12 million in the first three months of her campaign and quickly locked down major endorsements in her home state.
But as the race for President heated up this year, Harris’s fundraising fell flat. She was unable to secure funds like her Democratic counterpart Mike Bloomberg nor was she to attract millions from donors like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
Harris even took a shot at Bloomberg, the billionaire who officially started his presidential campaign this November (and already spent over $57 million on TV ads), in her statement.
“I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign,” Harris said in a video explaining her decision to drop out. “And as the campaign has gone on, it has become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete. In good faith, I can’t tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do.”
In a video message that followed the public statement, Harris said that although she is no longer running for president, she will do everything in her power to ensure that President Donald Trump is not elected for a second term.
“I want to be clear,” she said. “Although I am no longer running for president, I will do everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump and fight for the future of our country and the best of who we are. I know you will too. So let’s do that together.”