Just hours before the deadline to qualify for the third round of Democratic presidential debates, which are set to take place in Houston, Texas in September, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand officially dropped out of the 2020 presidential race on Wednesday.
According to The Hill , Gillibrand struggled to meet the one percent polling number in polls selected by the Democratic National Committee, nor did she meet the 130,000 donor threshold, which is another requirement to take part in the next round of debates.
President Donald Trump responded to the news shortly after Gillibrand’s announcement, saying in a tweet , “A sad day for the Democrats, Kirsten Gillibrand has dropped out of the Presidential Primary. I’m glad they never found out that she was the one I was really afraid of!”
In a Wednesday afternoon video posted to Twitter , Gillibrand addressed her supporters, saying, “I know this isn’t the result we wanted. We wanted to win this race.”
She then pledged to help take on President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
“But it’s important to know when it’s not your time, and to know how you can best serve your community and country. I believe I can best serve by helping to unite us to beat Donald Trump in 2020.”
Gillibrand told The New York Times that she plans on backing another Democratic candidate, though she didn’t specify which one. She suggested, however, that endorsing another female candidate was a possibility.
“I think that women have a unique ability to bring people together and heal this country,” she said, before saying that a female president would be “inspiring and exciting.”
Gillibrand ran her campaign on a platform of various policies aimed at helping women and families in America with issues like paid family leave and access to abortion services. She famously attacked former vice president Joe Biden on his past support for the Hyde Amendment — a law that bans federal funds from being used for abortion.
#BREAKING : Kirsten Gillibrand drops out of 2020 presidential race https://t.co/opQeBvijyS pic.twitter.com/5oPUJuk2BA
— The Hill (@thehill) August 28, 2019
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , longtime friends and campaign allies of the New York senator recently suggested that she drop out of the race based on her inability to capture a strong base like Sen. Bernie Sanders or Sen. Elizabeth Warren or make any upward mobility in the polls.
A former staffer said that Gillibrand’s presence on the debate stage wasn’t desirable and that the senator often seemed opportunistic on given issues.
She also failed to attain any headline-grabbing debate moments for a much-needed boost in the polls, unlike her opponents Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who saw a slight surge in the polls after the first and second debates, respectively.
