MASSACHUSETTS — Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday dropped out of the presidential race after a disastrous Super Tuesday showing, ending a campaign that peaked far too early and struggled to carve out space among progressive Democrats once Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders hit his stride.
Warren suffered a humiliating defeat Tuesday in her home state of Massachusetts, finishing behind surprise winner Joe Biden and Sanders. She failed to finish in the top two in any presidential voting contest during her campaign.
“I will not be running for president in 2020, but I guarantee I will stay in the fight for the hard-working folks across this country who have gotten the short end of the stick over and over,” Warren told reporters outside her Cambridge home. “That’s been the fight of my life, and it will continue to be so.”
Warren said she would not be making an endorsement Thursday.
“I need some space around this,” she said. “And want to take a little time to think a little more.”
Warren’s exit leaves former Vice President Biden, Sanders and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard in the race. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg tapped out Wednesday, something Warren took credit for after laying into him in his two debates.
“And in this campaign, we have been willing to fight, and, when necessary, we left plenty of blood and teeth on the floor,” she told campaign staffers in a morning phone call. “And I can think of one billionaire who has been denied the chance to buy this election.”
Warren got emotional when talking about what her exit meant for girls around the country who had hoped of seeing the first female president, many of whom she made “pinky promises” with.
“I take those pinky promises seriously,” Warren said, fighting tears.
Warren has been under intensified pressure from Sanders supporters to support the Vermont senator after the moderate wing coalesced behind Biden.
The relationship between Warren and Sanders, longtime friends and colleagues in the Senate, appeared to thaw when members of the Sanders campaign reportedly badmouthed Warren, calling her a candidate only for the elite who couldn’t expand the Democratic base.
Warren then said Sanders told her in 2018 a woman could never be president, something he denied at a Democratic debate. After the debate, Warren appeared to admonish Sanders for essentially calling her a liar.
Warren’s policy-driven liberal agenda was highlighted by a wealth tax that she said would have provided the funds to pay for her health care plan, erasing student debt and providing universal child care.
The Massachusetts senator rode a wave of summer momentum to the top of national polls as late as October, leading some by a wide margin. But she was unable to keep front-runner status for long, taking heat from opponents for delaying an explanation about how she would pay for her “Medicare for All” plan. She eventually released details, but her grip atop some polls had begun to slip.