The First Big-Name Democratic Candidate Could Be Dropping Out Of The 2020 Race This Week

The 2020 Democratic primary could soon have its first big exit.

As the historically large field of candidates vying for the nomination has started to thin out and recently dipped under 20 candidates, all of the most prominent names within the party remain in the race. That could soon be changing.

As The Guardian reported, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker recently announced that he had received an “avalanche of support” to reach a self-imposed fundraising goal to stay in the race, but it still may not be enough to keep him in until the start of voting next year. As the report noted, Booker said in an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union that the end of his campaign “could be” coming soon.

As The Inquisitr had reported, Booker’s staff circulated a memo last week saying that he would be dropping out of the race if he could not raise $2 million over the course of that week. The memo was from campaign manager Addisu Demissie, who wrote that there didn’t appear to be any way Booker could stay in the race short of the big fundraising haul.

“Without a fundraising surge to close out this quarter, we do not see a legitimate long-term path forward,” Demissie wrote. “The next 10 days will determine whether Cory Booker can stay in this race.”

Booker had built a deep and well-staffed operation in Iowa, hoping that a win in the first caucus could propel his languishing campaign forward. But this campaign infrastructure has been costly, and Booker has not been able to keep up the donations needed.

Booker said that his supporters responded well to the news of his dire fundraising needs, with a surge of donations that included the two best fundraising days of his campaign with more than 10,000 who donated. Booker said he was not in the race as a vanity project but to win, and noted that he has worked hard in Iowa to secure important endorsements.

But he warned that he could not stay competitive if fundraising did not pick up considerably, noting that he would drop out if it looked like he could no longer be competitive.

Booker was once seen as a potential favorite to win the nomination, but has struggled to stand out in a field filled with big names within the party. Booker has consistently polled behind frontrunners Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, holding steady in the low single digits of support from Democratic primary voters.