On Thursday, two of the Democratic presidential candidates, U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan of Ohio and Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, made two vastly different campaign announcements.
Ryan, 46, announced on Thursday morning that he was ending his presidential campaign and running for re-election in Ohio’s 13th Congressional District. He has served in Congress since 2003. Ryan is the eighth candidate to drop out of the race, leaving 18 candidates remaining in the Democratic Party’s field.
Ryan failed to qualify for third and fourth debates that required 2 percent in four qualifying polls and 130,000 unique donors. He was unlikely to qualify for the fifth that required at least 3 percent in four national or early state polls or at least five percent in two early state polls. Candidates also must have 165,000 unique donors according to Democratic Party criteria.
Gabbard, 38, announced on Thursday evening that she would not run for re-election in Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District and remains committed to the presidential race. Gabbard has served in Congress since 2013.
Gabbard is an unlikely nominee. Her poll average in the last six national polls is 1.3 percent. Her poll average in the last four Iowa polls is only two percent and the average of the last two polls in New Hampshire is one percent.
Gabbard failed to qualify for the third debate, but qualified for the fourth debate. She has not yet qualified for the fifth debate on November 20, 2019, but has met the unique donor criteria. She currently only has one poll where she reached 3 percent which is the last USA Today/Suffolk University poll in Iowa.
