Cory Booker Drops Presidential Bid

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey ended his presidential bid Monday.  Despite campaigning for nearly a year - entered the race last February 1 - he had been averaging only 2-3% nationally and in the four early states. While that placed him ahead of several candidates in the still-large field, it was no longer enough to qualify him for the debate stage. 

As the New York Times notes, "the departure of Mr. Booker from the crowded Democratic field, heralded at the outset as the most diverse in history, leaves just one African-American candidate, Deval Patrick, vying for the Democratic nomination in a party where black voters are an essential bloc of the Democratic base." Effectively, that means the party will not have a black nominee this year as Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor, has received close to 0% support in polling.

12 candidates remain in the race. Six of them will face-off in Tuesday's debate in Iowa, which comes just shy of three weeks before that state holds its 2020 caucuses.

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