Given that at one point or another, 28 people have run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, it’s a bit difficult to keep track of who’s still running and who dropped out. The latest candidates to drop out are Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg, who didn’t make it past Super Tuesday.
For every policy issue, Warren had a plan. But if she had a plan to fix her deflated campaign, it didn’t catch on. Warren had a moment where she led in several national polls and took the lead in Iowa and New Hampshire. But eventually, she faded behind Bernie Sanders, who consistently had a solid base of support from the Democratic Party’s far-left wing. No matter how many plans she had, it wasn’t going to be enough to overcome Sanders.
Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, launched his campaign in November, fairly late in the race. He spent bundles and bundles of his personal wealth, and some polls gave him a chance to win some states on Super Tuesday. But then Joe Biden won South Carolina and everyone who doesn’t support Sanders or Warren fell in line behind Biden. Bloomberg spent hundreds of millions of dollars and got fewer than 25 delegates to show for it — at least he won the American Samoa caucuses.
Here is a helpful guide to the three people still running for the Democratic nomination and for the chance to face off against President Trump:
The top tier:
Joe Biden
After dominating the RealClearPolitics national polling average for much of the campaign and easily qualifying for every debate, Biden had disappointing results in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. But a huge win in South Carolina propelled him to victories in Super Tuesday states, some he didn’t even campaign in. He’s got the endorsements of former contestants Bloomberg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O’Rourke. Biden is now the front-runner in a two-man race against Sanders.
Bernie Sanders
Sanders’s month in the sun has passed. He has consistently been in the top tier and has maintained a steady base of support. But after the early states, he had a target on his back, and the rest of the field took aim and didn’t miss. His campaign failed to gain back momentum on Super Tuesday. Will the primaries on March 10 and 17 change the race?
The rest:
Tulsi Gabbard
The member of Congress from Hawaii hasn’t qualified for a debate in a long time. She’s a long-shot candidate but has gotten lots of attention and defiantly spread her beliefs on foreign policy. She’s made no friends in the Democratic establishment, but she’s probably proud her campaign lasted longer than California Sen. Kamala Harris’s.
Candidates who ran but dropped out and would love to be the vice presidential nominee, please!
- Elizabeth Warren.
- Mike Bloomberg.
- Amy Klobuchar.
- Pete Buttigieg.
- Tom Steyer.
- Deval Patrick.
- Michael Bennet.
- Andrew Yang.
- John Delaney.
- Cory Booker.
- Marianne Williamson.
- Julian Castro.
- Kamala Harris.
- Steve Bullock.
- Joe Sestak.
- Wayne Messam.
- Beto O’Rourke.
- Tim Ryan.
- Bill de Blasio.
- Kirsten Gillibrand.
- Seth Moulton.
- Jay Inslee.
- John Hickenlooper.
- Mike Gravel.
- Eric Swalwell.
