New York City mayor Bill de Blasio is finally ending his 2020 presidential campaign. After never registering more than 1 percent of the vote in numerous polls, de Blasio has decided to stop campaigning and instead redirect his focus back to his own city.
The announcement from de Blasio was made in an op-ed on NBC News.
“This campaign has been a profound experience for me,” de Blasio said, via NBC News. “I saw America in full—not as it appears on Twitter and cable news, where we’re constantly shown a country hamstrung by our differences and unable to tackle the problems we face. We have more in common than we realize—and more and more of us across the country are overcoming our divisions and standing up for working people.
“I’m going to redouble my efforts to improve the quality of life of everyday New Yorkers, proving that policies like guaranteed paid personal time off can work on a grand scale. I’m going to continue implementing universal health care and a Green New Deal in the nation’s largest city. And I promise I’ll fight for New Yorkers and workers everywhere to ensure there’s an actual plan to protect their livelihoods from being automated out of existence. I’ll also help ensure our party continues to be remade in the image of the activism I’ve seen all across this nation. Democrats must return to our roots as a party focused on bold solutions that speak to the concerns of working people.”
The announcement comes shortly after de Blasio announced it would be hard to continue his campaign if he did not qualify for the October Democratic Debates. The next Democratic Debate will take place on October 15 in Ohio. If enough candidates qualify, there may be a second night added on October 16, but de Blasio will not be one.