Rep. Moulton Drops Out Of Presidential Race, Will Seek Reelection

WASHINGTON – Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., dropped out of the 2020 presidential contest Friday, saying he will instead seek reelection in Massachusetts’ 6th congressional district.

Moulton made his announcement at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in San Francisco.

“Today, I want to use this opportunity, with all of you here, to announce that I am ending my campaign for president,” Moulton said.

“While this is the end of my campaign, it is certainly not the end of our efforts,” he continued. “I will once again be running for Congress in the 6th District of Massachusetts, my home, and I can’t wait to get back at it.

“I will be relaunching my organization, Serve America—which helped take back the House last cycle by electing 21 service-driven Democrats in tough districts across America—to work with all of you to keep the House, to flip the Senate, and to win back statehouses across the country next November. Because those down-ballot races are every bit as important as the Presidential.

“And most of all, I will be campaigning my ass off for whoever wins our nomination in 2020,” he said. “Donald Trump is going to be harder to beat than most people think. But we can, and we must, beat him—because our country, our values, and our future depend on it.”

Moulton, a Harvard-educated Marine veteran, launched his bid for the Democratic nomination in April, but after failing to qualify to appear in two previous candidate debates and facing the prospect of failing to appear in the third, to be held in September in Houston, it was clear his campaign was gaining no traction.

The representative is the third candidate to exit the 2020 race for the Democratic nomination in the past two weeks.

Last week, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper ended his presidential bid, and on Wednesday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee did the same.

Like Moulton, Hickenlooper and Inslee will run for other offices. Hickenlooper announced on Thursday that he is running for the U.S. Senate in Colorado, while Inslee is expected to seek a third term as governor.