
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who had struggled with getting his 2020 presidential campaign off the ground from the beginning, announced on Monday he’d drop his pursuit of the White House.
With weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, Booker said in a statement to supporters his campaign lacks the funds to go on.
“Our campaign has reached the point where we need more money to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win — money we don’t have, and money that is harder to raise because I won’t be on the next debate stage and because the urgent business of impeachment will rightly be keeping me in Washington,” Booker said, “So I’ve chosen to suspend my campaign now, take care of my wonderful staff, and give you time to consider the other strong choices in the field.”
Booker has made LGBTQ rights a major components of his political career and took that approach to his presidential campaign.
When many presidential candidates said they opposed President Trump’s transgender military ban, Booker went further and said as president he’d reverse the policy and allow transgender people to serve “right away.”
The New Jersey Democrat had some major breakout moments in the Democratic debates, but always struggled with support. Black voters were consistently aligned with Biden as opposed to Booker or Kamala Harris, who similarly faced difficulties before dropping out of the race.