Republican Sanford Ends Campaign To Defeat Trump In Primary

Republican longshot, and we do mean longshot, presidential contender Mark Sanford has ended his campaign for the presidency.

His effort to unseat President Donald Trump, much like the efforts of Joe Walsh and Bill Weld, never had any steam.

“I am suspending my race for the Presidency because impeachment has made my goal of making the debt, deficit and spending issue a part of this presidential debate impossible right now,” he said.

“From day one, I was fully aware of how hard it would be to elevate these issues with a sitting president of my own party ignoring them.

“Impeachment noise has moved what was hard to herculean as nearly everything in Republican Party politics is currently viewed through the prism of impeachment,” he said.

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There are now 17 Democrats and three republicans, including President Trump, vying for their Party’s nominations, Reuters reported.

The handful of Republicans who have mounted long-shot bids to oust President Donald Trump as their party’s presidential nominee next year grew smaller on Tuesday, when former U.S. Representative Mark Sanford ended his campaign.

Meanwhile, the field of 17 Democratic contenders, the largest in modern U.S. history, could still increase. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg filed as a candidate in Alabama and Arkansas, though he has not yet decided whether to run.

The diverse group of Democrats includes a record five women as well as black, Hispanic, Asian and openly gay candidates who would make history if one of them becomes the party’s nominee.

Here is a graphic https://tmsnrt.rs/2UhJ7WE of the Republican and Democratic hopefuls to take on Trump, the likely Republican nominee, in the November 2020 election.

TOP DEMOCRATIC CONTENDERS

There are three candidates who have consistently received double-digit support in public opinion polls while two others have separated themselves thus far from the rest of the field among Democratic voters.

JOE BIDEN

Biden, the early front-runner in opinion polls among Democratic presidential contenders, waited until late April to enter the race, launching his bid with a direct swipe at Trump. Biden, 76, served eight years as President Barack Obama’s vice president and 36 years in the U.S. Senate. He stands at the center of the Democratic debate over whether the party’s standard-bearer should be a veteran politician or a newcomer, and whether a liberal or a moderate has a better chance of defeating Trump. Biden, who frequently notes his “Middle-Class Joe” nickname, touts his working-class roots and ability to work in a bipartisan fashion. He has been criticized by some fellow Democrats for his role in passing tough-on-crime legislation in the 1990s.

ELIZABETH WARREN

The 70-year-old U.S. senator from Massachusetts is a leader of the party’s liberals and a fierce critic of Wall Street who was instrumental in creating the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after the 2008 financial crisis. Her campaign has surged in recent months, equaling Biden in some polls. She has focused her presidential campaign on a populist anti-corruption message, promising to fight what she calls a rigged system that favors the wealthy. She has released an array of policy proposals on everything from breaking up big tech companies to implementing a “wealth tax” on the richest Americans. Warren has sworn off political fundraising events to back her campaign.

BERNIE SANDERS

The U.S. senator from Vermont lost the Democratic nomination in 2016 to Hillary Clinton but is trying again. For the 2020 race, Sanders, 78, is fighting to stand out in a field of progressives running on issues he brought into the Democratic Party mainstream four years ago. Sanders suffered a heart attack while campaigning in Nevada in October, but there has been little impact so far on his support. His proposals include free tuition at public colleges, a $15-an-hour minimum wage and universal healthcare. He benefits from strong name recognition and an unmatched network of small-dollar donors.

PETE BUTTIGIEG

The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, emerged from virtual anonymity to become one of the party’s brightest stars, building momentum with young voters. A Harvard University graduate and Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, he speaks seven languages conversationally and served in Afghanistan with the U.S. Navy Reserve. He touts himself as representing a new generation of leadership needed to combat Trump. Buttigieg would be the first openly gay presidential nominee of a major American political party. His poll numbers in Iowa, which holds the first nominating contest in February, have rivaled that of the other leading candidates, even though his national standing is lower.

KAMALA HARRIS

The first-term U.S. senator from California would make history as the first black woman to gain the nomination. Harris, 55, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, announced her candidacy on the holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. She supports a middle-class tax credit, the Green New Deal and marijuana legalization. Her track record as San Francisco’s district attorney and California’s attorney general has drawn scrutiny in a Democratic Party that has grown more liberal in recent years on criminal justice issues. She saw a significant bounce in the polls after a high-profile clash with Biden over race issues during the first Democratic debate in June but has since seen her numbers drop back down…

THE REPUBLICANS

Trump is the clear favorite to win the Republican nomination, and there has been criticism among his opponents that party leadership has worked to make it impossible for a challenger. Still, the incumbent will face at least three rivals.

DONALD TRUMP

Serving in his first term, the 73-year-old real estate mogul shocked the political establishment in 2016 when he secured the Republican nomination and then won the White House. His raucous political rallies and prolific use of Twitter were credited with helping him secure victory. After running as an outsider, Trump is now focusing his message on the strong economy, while continuing the anti-immigration rhetoric that characterized his first campaign as he vies for re-election.

JOE WALSH

A former congressman, Walsh, 57, has become a vocal critic of Trump, who he argues is not a conservative and is unfit for public office. Walsh won a House seat from Illinois as a candidate of the Republican Party’s fiscally conservative Tea Party movement in 2010, but was defeated by Democrat Tammy Duckworth in his 2012 re-election bid. After leaving Congress, he became a Chicago-area radio talk-show host.

BILL WELD

The 74-year-old former Massachusetts governor ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 2016 as a Libertarian. He has been a persistent critic of Trump, saying when he launched his 2020 campaign that “the American people are being ignored and our nation is suffering.”