Well, that didn’t last long.
A mere three months after he threw in with an unusually large primary pool of Democratic candidates, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) announced on Monday he’s ending his long-shot campaign gamble for 2020.
“Today ends our presidential campaign,” he declared at a press conference in his home state of California. “But it is the beginning of an opportunity in Congress.”
Swalwell, 38, focused on gun control during his campaign. He was the first presidential candidate to call for a ban on assault-style rifles. He also wanted the government to buy back those already in public hands.
He also took a dramatic swipe at former Vice President Joe Biden in the first round of Democratic debates.
He urged Biden, 76, to “pass the torch” to a younger generation of Americans — but it fell flat. Biden swiped right back by talking about education proposals, including pre-kindergarten and free community college.
Swalwell had fallen from the 1 percent at which he was polling early on in the campaign.
He was also at serious risk of being dropped from the second round of debates, as CBS News noted; those debates will take place at the end of this month.
BREAKING: Rep. Eric Swalwell announces he's dropping out of the 2020 presidential race, saying he had made progress on goal of focusing debate on gun control.
"Today ends our presidential campaign. But it is the beginning of an opportunity in Congress." https://t.co/Mo3U0M1lPQ pic.twitter.com/WynGE6QlVk
— ABC News (@ABC) July 8, 2019
It should come as a surprise to no one that @ericswalwell is dropping out.
Eric, you spoke of momentum, but miscalculation is the more accurate word. You didn’t understand the causes of the Parkland tragedy, yet you prescribed a solution. You never spoke for all of Parkland. https://t.co/YnE7XmYXeL
— Ryan Petty (@rpetty) July 8, 2019
.@EricSwalwell News Conference – LIVE online here: https://t.co/eBfY2rmHUi pic.twitter.com/dQsnZ5FCNT
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 8, 2019
Meanwhile, a new poll shows that Biden is still holding his own.
Biden — who has been gaffe-laden of late — is the only Democratic 2020 contender who has a comfortable lead over President Donald Trump, a Washington Post/ABC News poll has found.
It found Biden would lead Trump by 53 percent to 43 percent among registered voters who responded as if the election were held today, as Business Insider reported.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) held small leads over Trump, pulling two points and one point, respectively, above the president, the same poll found.
As for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — she tied with Trump.
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