New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination Friday morning, prompting a mocking tweet from President Donald Trump.
De Blasio, 58, announced he was exiting the race during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
“Getting out there, being able to hear people’s concerns, address them with new ideas, has been an extraordinary experience,” de Blasio said. “But I have to tell you, at the same time, I feel like I’ve contributed all I can to this primary election and it’s clearly not my time so I’m going to end my presidential campaign.”
In response to de Blasio’s announcement, Trump trolled the former candidate on Twitter.
“Oh no, really big political news, perhaps the biggest story in years! Part time Mayor of New York City, @BilldeBlasio, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has shocking [sic] dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!” Trump tweeted.
De Blasio had, in fact, failed to poll above 0%. He is currently hovering around 0.2% on the RealClear Politics polling average. That’s down from his peak polling average from June, where he reached 1%.
The only person on the RealClear polling average below de Blasio was Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam, who is polling at absolute zero. A Siena College poll from earlier this week put de Blasio below 1%, meaning even people in his home state of New York didn’t want him to be president.
De Blasio announced he was running for president back in May, highlighting the progressive policies of New York City such as the city’s minimum wage of $15 per hour.
“As president, I will take on the wealthy, I will take on the big corporations, I will not rest until this government serves working people,” de Blasio said in his announcement video. “As mayor of the largest city in America, I’ve done just that.”
De Blasio announced he was running for president even though an “overwhelming majority of the mayor’s constituents said last month that they did not want to see him join the 2020 field,” USA Today reported at the time. A Quinnipiac poll published in April found that 76% of voters in New York City did not want the mayor to run for president.
De Blasio struggled to appear radically progressive in a field of radically progressive candidates. He chastised former Rep. Beto O’Rourke during a debate for suggesting Medicare and private health insurance could coexist.
“Private insurance is not working for tens of millions of Americans when you talk about the co-pays,” de Blasio said. “The premiums, the out of pocket expenses, it’s not working.”
This assertion didn’t set him apart from top-tier candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who support a “Medicare for All” health insurance solution. The plan would increase taxes on middle-class Americans, something Warren has avoided discussing in recent weeks. She has been so elusive on the subject that left-wing late-night host Stephen Colbert actually gave her campaign advice on how to handle the issue.