Sen. Cory Booker ends 2020 presidential bid
N.J. Democrat Sen. Cory Booker suspends his presidential campaign after failing to make the January primary debate.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said Sunday he’s not quite ready to make an endorsement in the Democrats’ heated presidential primary.
I’m not sure,” Booker said during an interview on ABC News’ “This Week.” “Look, I'm literally still days — just days from stepping out of this race.”
Booker, who up until a week ago tried to be the one getting endorsements, dropped out of the primary race last Monday amid falling poll numbers and failing to qualify for multiple debates.
“I want to support a candidate that, yeah, wants to send [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell to the back benches, yeah, wants to beat Donald Trump, but also understands that beating Donald Trump is the floor — it's not the ceiling,” Booker added.
The senator said his focus would shift to winning reelection in the Senate and his vote in the impeachment trial of President Trump.
ROSARIO DAWSON ON BACKING BOOKER FOR PRESIDENT
Booker entered the race last February but struggled to gain traction in the polls. It wasn’t long ago that Booker, the energetic former mayor of Newark, N.J., was considered a rising star in his party, but he was outshined throughout the primary and never enjoyed a break-out moment like others did.
While he did participate in early debates, Booker had failed to meet the qualifications to participate in last week’s event. It also came less than a month before Iowa is set to off the nominating season with its caucuses on Feb. 3.
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Booker is the latest candidate of color to exit the race, following the departure of California Sen. Kamala Harris and former Obama administration official Julián Castro.
The last African-American candidate in the race is former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, but he has not qualified for any debates.
Fox News’ Alex Pappas contributed to this report.
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