'I can't fund my own campaign': US Senator Kamala Harris drops out of 2020 Presidential race

Senator Kamala Harris of California has decided to suspend her campaign for the 2020 Presidential race. Senator Harris announcing her withdrawal on Tuesday expressed her "deep regret" and said that she lacked the fund to compete.

"I'm not a billionaire. I can't fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it's become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete," Senator Harris said in a statement. Kamala Harris had a great start with her campaign announcement coming on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and had over 20,000 people attending to listen to her speech.

kamala harris
Facebook/Kamala Harris

Elected in 2016, Harris was the second African American woman in history to be elected to the US Senate, and the first African American and the first woman to serve as Attorney General of the state of California. She was the only African American so far who already had qualified for the next Presidential debate for the primaries.

With her abrupt exit, it looks like the December 19 debate will be an all-white ensemble comprising of Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, and Elizabeth Warren. There are, however, possibilities that representative from Hawaii - Tulsi Gabbard and entrepreneur Andrew Yang could qualify over the week.

A mix of reasons that include factors such as an "upheaval among staff and disarray among Ms. Harris's own allies" besides the slow-down in online fund-raising after many of "her large donors increasingly turned away from her campaign" led to her sudden exit, according to an analysis by New York Times.

Harris in her statement also promised to her supporters that she will continue to fight to "defeat Donald Trump." "And I want to be clear: although I am no longer running for President, I will do everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump and fight for the future of our country and the best of who we are," she said.

This article was first published on December 4, 2019
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