Sen. Michael Bennet Ends 2020 Democratic Presidential Bid

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) has dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.

Bennets announcement came late Tuesday as polls closed in New Hampshire.

I am going to do absolutely everything I can do as one human being to make sure that Donald Trump is a one-term president, Bennet told supporters in New Hampshire on Tuesday. I will support the nominee of my party no matter who it is.

Michael Bennet drops out of the race. I love you, New Hampshire. Whether you knew it or not, we were having a great time together... I think its fitting for us to end the campaign tonight. pic.twitter.com/diTFtyqvv7

Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 12, 2020","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Dave Weigel","author_url":"https://twitter.com/daveweigel","cache_age":86400,"description":"Michael Bennet drops out of the race. I love you, New Hampshire. Whether you knew it or not, we were having a great time together... 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Michael Bennet drops out of the race. I love you, New Hampshire. Whether you knew it or not, we were having a great time together... I think its fitting for us to end the campaign tonight. pic.twitter.com/diTFtyqvv7
Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 12, 2020

The self-described pragmatic idealist charted a politically centrist path while many of his Democratic opponents veered further to the left. While job creation and affordable health insurance featured prominently in his platform, Bennet stopped short of advocating for Medicare for All like rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and, to a lesser extent , Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

After participating in the first two Democratic debates in June and July 2019, Bennet failed to qualify for any subsequent appearances. He was aware that he was one of the lesser-known candidates and tried to use it to his advantage.

Im not as well-known, he told Quad Cities public radio in an early December interview. Im not a celebrity politician, and I dont raise money as well as some of these other people do on the internet because Im not going to make empty promises to the American people. Im going to tell them the truth, and I think thats how Im going to win.

With limited resources compared with his better-funded rivals, Bennet went all-in on New Hampshire, where his campaign aimed to finish among the top three candidates in the states primary. Early returns showed that was not happening.