Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) will reportedly drop out of the 2020 presidential primary in a planned speech before the Democratic National Committee (DNC) summer meeting in San Francisco on Friday.
“Today, I want to use this opportunity, with all of you here, to announce that I am ending my campaign for president,” Moulton will tell attendees, according to a copy of the lawmaker’s prepared remarks obtained by CNN. “Though this campaign is not ending the way we hoped, I am leaving this race knowing that we raised issues that are vitally important to the American people and our future.”
Moulton, a former U.S. Marine who has spent three terms in Congress, announced his bid on April 22nd, stating he planned to focus his campaign on patriotism, security, and service, areas he has claimed were weakest for his competitors for the Democratic nomination and President Donald Trump.
“These are issues that for too long Democrats have ceded to Republicans and we’ve got to stop that, because this is actually where Donald Trump is weakest,” Moulton said during an appearance on Good Morning America. “We’ve got to take them on these issues, on these core values that make us strong and that’s what I’m going to do in this campaign. This is going to be a campaign anchored in service, security and in patriotism.”
He attended Harvard University and joined the Marines after graduating, inspired by his minister and spurred on by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He served in one of the first platoons to enter Baghdad in 2003.
The UPI contributed to this report.