Montana Gov. Steve Bullock drops 2020 bid

Katie Goodale

Governor of Montana Steve Bullock addresses members of the press during his meet and greet in Blackstone on July 10, 2019. (Katie Goodale/The Daily Iowan)

Sarah Watson, Politics Editor
December 2, 2019

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock suspended his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, he announced in a tweet Monday morning.

“While there were many obstacles we could not have anticipated when entering into this race, it has become clear that in this moment, I won’t be able to break through to the top tier of this still-crowded field of candidates,” Bullock wrote in a post on Medium.

In the last Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll, Bullock was one of five candidates that rounded down to 0 percent of likely Iowa caucusgoers’ first choice for president.

Bullock based his campaign on his experience winning a statewide election in Montana, which voted for President Trump with 56 percent of the vote there in 2016, and his work targeting dark money groups, organizations that work to influence elections and don’t have to disclose their donors.
“I entered this race as a voice to win back the places we lost, bridge divides and rid our system of the corrupting influence of Dark Money. While the concerns that propelled me to enter in the first place have not changed, I leave this race filled with gratitude and optimism, inspired and energized by the good people I’ve had the privilege of meeting over the course of the campaign,” Bullock wrote in his post.
He’s the second candidate to drop out of the race in the last 24 hours. Former U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania Joe Sestak announced his departure from the lineup on Sunday.