Despite having prematurely declared himself the victor in several early states, it seems Pete Buttigieg will not get a chance to spend the next four years doing his best Obama impression in the Rose Garden. He’s dropping out of the Democratic primary.
Rumors started circulating on Sunday evening that the former mayor of South Bend (and first openly gay presidential candidate) was dropping out ahead of Super Tuesday, and the New York Times confirmed it. Buttigieg sort of won the Iowa caucus and came in second in New Hampshire, but got trounced in Nevada and South Carolina. He performed poorly with voters of color, for some reason, and was not expected to fare well in more diverse states.
This is sad news for Buttigieg’s most dedicated fans (and boy are they dedicated!) and good news for anyone growing weary of Buttigieg’s tendency to spout absolute nonsense as if it translated into coherent policy (which it didn’t). This is also very good news for Joe Biden, who is making his way back to frontrunner status after his decisive victory in South Carolina and will probably pick up a big chunk of Buttigieg’s supporters. This is probably bad news for Bernie Sanders, who is now in tight competition with Biden for the lead and probably won’t get much of a bump from Buttigieg.
So, R.I.P. to Mayor Pete’s presidential aspirations—for now, at least, since he’s only 38, and the shape of our democracy is a long and winding road. And has anyone checked in with Amy Klobuchar lately?