Gillibrand drops out of presidential race

Mia Wang/Iowa State Daily

Former presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., held a meet and greet at Stomping Grounds Cafe Friday, April 19 where she delivered remarks and conversed with attendees.

Jake Webster

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., ended her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday in a video posted to twitter.

The junior senator from New York entered the race in January, coming to Iowa shortly after beginning her campaign. In the first week of her campaign, the senator spoke to students and community members at Stomping Grounds Cafe in Ames, but her campaign never took off the way she wanted it to.

In an August Monmouth poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers, Gillibrand registered at 2 percent support. She told the New York Times she will be endorsing another candidate, but is not ready at this time to pick a favorite.

Gillibrand’s campaign focused heavily on women’s issues, stressing her support for abortion rights in a June town hall held in Iowa.

“We have put the civil rights of women front and center, and never backed down when it comes to valuing them,” Gillibrand said in her video.

Furthermore, Gillibrand said she was proud of her campaign, thanked her supporters and said “this isn’t the result that we wanted, we wanted to win this race.”

The senator added she believes she can help unify the country to help defeat President Donald Trump.

Gillibrand was not among the 10 candidates who qualified for the Sept. 12 presidential debates, having received only one of the four polls she needed to qualify, and not reaching the donations criteria. The latest RealClearPolitics polling average found Gillibrand with 0.1% support nationally.