WASHINGTON – Billionaire and activist Tom Steyer has ended his presidential campaign.
In his speech on Saturday evening, Steyer, 62, thanked his supporters and campaign staff, saying he “had no regrets”.
“There is no doubt today that this campaign we were disappointed with where we came out,” Steyer told the crowd in South Carolina. “Honestly, I don’t see a way to win the presidency.”
Despite his small national polls, Steyer devoted much of his resources to advertising in the four early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Ad tracking company Advertising Analytics says Steyer spent more than $ 186 million on ads during the race.
This deluge of publicity helped him get on the scene of the debate even though some of his opponents with more defined political careers, such as Senator Cory Booker and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, had struggling to get on stage.
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His campaign bet on a better result in South Carolina, and his wife went so far as to move temporarily to the state, but Steyer finished behind former vice-president Joe Biden and senator Bernie Sanders.
Despite the tens of millions of dollars he injected into the state of Palmetto, it was unclear whether Steyer was to win delegates to South Carolina when he left.
But he said meeting the people of South Carolina and America was “the greatest highlight” of his life.
“When the Lord closes a door, he opens a window,” said Steyer passionately. “I will find this window and crawl through with you, I promise.”
His candidacy came several months after he said he was not going to run. Steyer said in January that he will “strengthen my commitment” to Need to Impeach, a group that is organizing grassroots efforts to remove President Donald Trump.
In addition to this organization, Steyer founded NextGen America, a climate advocacy group.
Steyer said on Saturday that “of course” he will continue to work to defeat Trump, despite the end of his candidacy.
“Every Democrat is a million times better than Trump,” said Steyer. “Trump is a disaster.”
Contributor: Nicholas Wu, Savannah Behrmann
