Moulton Drops Presidential Bid With Warning, Regret

MANCHESTER, NH - APRIL 23: Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) speaks to media before participating in a community project on April 23, 2019 in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Photo by Scott Eise... MANCHESTER, NH - APRIL 23: Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) speaks to media before participating in a community project on April 23, 2019 in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), a 2020 presidential hopeful and veteran who focused his centrist campaign on military issues, will formally end his campaign on Friday.

In an interview with the New York Times, he said that the race is truly between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and warned that “veering too far left” could cost Democrats the White House.

He cited Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, another moderate who also struggled to make the debate stage, as evidence that the primary was pulling candidates further and further left.

He was also open about his own missteps, as he did not enter the race until late April, just before Biden announced and completely overshadowed the rest of the field.

“Candidly, getting in the race late was a mistake,” Moulton told the Times. “It was a bigger handicap than I expected.”

Moulton declined to make any endorsements, though he spoke highly of Biden. He will run again for his House seat.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee also dropped out of the race this week to run for another gubernatorial term; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper exited last week and will run for Senate.

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for davidn davidn says:

    I guess he prefers Biden to Sanders or Warren since he is warning us not to “veer to far left”.

    I wonder why his campaign never took off? May be he can go talk to John Delaney to get help figuring that out.

  2. It’s going to be news to a lot of people that he had a presidential bid.

  3. Moulton is concern trolling here and, frankly, that’s pretty much all he ever did which is pretty much what defines ‘centrism’ these days.

  4. Glad he finally dropped out before he damaged himself any further. Despite some terrible judgement in challenging Pelosi and then running for President, he is not a bad guy and he is a good fit for his district which is less liberal than the average MA congressional district. He is going to need the time to reconnect with his constituents in order to head off a primary.

  5. Avatar for swell swell says:

    Dang! Just as he was picking up some Moulton-Mentum! Seth-Mania was just about to sweep the nation!

    And those of us that knew didn’t give a twit. Kinda feel bad for his supporter, though.

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