California Democrat Senator Kamala Harris has ended her bid to become the next President of the United States.
"I’ve taken stock and looked at this from every angle, and over the last few days have come to one of the hardest decisions of my life. My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue," Harris stated in a letter posted at Medium. "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."
"In good faith, I can’t tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do," she continued. "So, to you my supporters, it is with deep regret — but also with deep gratitude — that I am suspending my campaign today."
To my supporters, it is with deep regret—but also with deep gratitude—that I am suspending my campaign today.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 3, 2019
But I want to be clear with you: I will keep fighting every day for what this campaign has been about. Justice for the People. All the people.https://t.co/92Hk7DHHbR
For months Harris has struggled to clearly define her positions. During the Democrat debate in August, Harris suffered a fatal blow from fellow Democrat candidate Tulsi Gabbard.
In recent weeks, her campaign closed offices in New Hampshire and South Carolina, indicating the end was near. She planned to make it to Iowa, but came up short more than two months out from the caucuses.
Over the weekend, a former Harris campaign staffer resigned and said she has "never seen staff treated so poorly."
An aide to Sen. Kamala Harris blasted the treatment of staff on the California Democrat's presidential campaign in a resignation letter this month.
"This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly," wrote state operations director Kelly Mehlenbacher in the Nov. 11 letter, which was obtained by The New York Times.
"While I still believe that Senator Harris is the strongest candidate to win in the General Election in 2020, I no longer have confidence in our campaign or its leadership," she added.
She wrote that "the treatment of our staff over the last two weeks was the final straw in this very difficult decision."
"It is not acceptable to me that we encouraged people to move from Washington, DC to Baltimore only to lay them off with no notice, with no plan for the campaign, and without thoughtful consideration of the personal consequences to them or the consequences that their absence would have on the remaining staff," Mehlenbacher said it her letter. "It is unacceptable that we would lay off anyone that we hired only weeks earlier. It is unacceptable that with less than 90 days until Iowa we still do not have a real plan to win."
Harris will resume her work in the U.S. Senate and as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Kamala Harris returning to her favorite hobby: throwing teens in prison pic.twitter.com/mmf4HWbUlj
— Caleb Hull ?????? (@CalebJHull) December 3, 2019
This is post has been updated with additional information.
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