De Blasio bows out of 2020 primary race vowing to help ‘working people’
New York City mayor never gained a foothold in the polls and has low favorability rating at home
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has ended his 2020 presidential campaign after failing to establish any real foothold in the Democratic primary race.
“I feel like I’ve contributed all I can to this primary election and it’s clearly not my time,” de Blasio said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday.
“I’m going to end my presidential campaign, continue my work as mayor of New York City, and I’m going to keep speaking up for working people and for a Democratic Party that stands for working people,” de Blasio said.
De Blasio had hoped his stature as the liberal mayor of the largest city in the country would elevate his position in the race, but he has continued to poll at less than 1 percent since announcing his candidacy in May.
He continually faced of insults over his low favorability ratings in his home city. De Blasio had just a 33 percent approval rating among New York City voters in a recent Siena College poll.
Critics also knocked de Blasio for allegedly neglecting his mayoral duties to campaign, a barb that particularly struck home in July when he was in Iowa as Manhattan was dealing with a power outage.
President Donald Trump fired off a tweet dripping with sarcasm on Friday after de Blasio announced he was folding his campaign.
“Oh no, really big political news, perhaps the biggest story in years!” Trump wrote. “Part time Mayor of New York City, @BilldeBlasio, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has [shockingly] dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!”
Oh no, really big political news, perhaps the biggest story in years! Part time Mayor of New York City, @BilldeBlasio, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has shocking dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2019
Nineteen Democrats remain of a presidential primary field that had initially swelled to 26 candidates.
Former Vice President Joe Biden still holds a lead in support in most nationwide polls, according to Real Clear Politics, with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders closely behind.
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