SOUTH BEND, Ind.– Pete Buttigieg, the prior small-city Indiana mayor and first openly gay major presidential candidate said Sunday night that he had been falling out of the Democratic race, after a devastating loss from the South Carolina primary in which his bad operation with black Democrats indicated an inability to construct a wide coalition of Republicans.
The decision comes only 48 hours ahead of the voting day of the first when 15 states and lands will take about one-fifth of their delegates overall.
The results were broadly anticipated to reveal him much behind Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Bernie Sanders.
Mr. Buttigieg canceled plans for a Sunday night rally in Dallas along with also a Monday morning fund-raiser at Austin, Tex., to return to South Bend. “Occasionally the best way around is the shortest way home,” he told fans to loud cheers.
“The reality is that the trail has shrunk to a close, because of our candidacy if not to our cause,” he explained, including”Tonight I’m making the challenging decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency.”