Three days before the Iowa caucuses, former Maryland Congressman John Delaney (D) has announced that he is ending his candidacy for president in 2020.
“It has been a privilege to campaign for the Democratic nomination for President, but it is clear that God has a different purpose for me at this moment in time,” Delaney said in a statement on Friday, which was also posted on Twitter.
lt has been a privilege to campaign for the Democratic nomination for President, but it is clear that God has a different purpose for me at this moment in time. Read my full statement here: 1/19https://t.co/DWaQWegVzJ
— John Delaney (@JohnDelaney) January 31, 2020
“I leave this race with a profound sense of gratitude to the voters who shared with me their hopes and concerns for our magnificent country, in admiration for the other contenders for the nomination and proud of the work we did to change the debate,” he continued.
One of few moderate Democrats
Delaney ran as a moderate, attacking progressive candidates during the second Democrat debate over their Medicare for All proposals and making divisions in the Democrat party more clear.
“Let’s stop the nonsense of unrealistic and divisive campaign promises and be the party the American people need — a decent, unifying, future-focused and common-sense party,” he said.
He was the first person to declare his candidacy for the Democrat nomination back in 2017. He also pledged to visit all 99 counties in Iowa before the caucuses.
Delaney is a self-made millionaire entrepreneur who invested tens of millions into his race but never made it above one percent in polls.
His failed candidacy exposes the weakened position of moderate, so-called “Blue Dog” Democrats in the modern party. While moderate Democrats are still a force in the party, most of them are supporting former Vice President Joe Biden’s candidacy with the progressive vote being split between Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
Radical leftward shift
Biden is running as the lone moderate frontrunner, but he only looks moderate when compared to avowed socialist Sanders and equally socialist Warren, who just doesn’t say it as much.
Biden has agreed with nearly all the far-left policy proposals backed by others in the party. True moderates like Delaney and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) have been unable to gain traction.
Delaney is only 56, so he may still have a political future ahead of him, FiveThirtyEight noted. Reports say he may be considering a run for Maryland governor in 2022.
Maybe Democrats like him and Gabbard can work on moderating the extreme impulses of the mainstream Democrat party and get back to policies the majority of the country can actually support.
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