WASHINGTON _ Beto O'Rourke announced Friday that he is dropping out of the Democratic presidential race.
He announced the move in an email to supporters, with no warning.
"Though it is difficult to accept, it is clear to me now that this campaign does not have the means to move forward successfully," he wrote. "My service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee."
Pulling the plug now, he wrote, is in the best interest of campaign staff and the party and its eventual nominee.
O'Rourke had yet to score an invitation to the next televised debate, Nov. 20 in Atlanta, and it wasn't looking likely _ a body blow in a crowded field. The party set a Nov. 13 deadline to hit 3% in four national polls and O'Rourke was two polls short when he quit, with tepid support and no momentum.
President Donald Trump, who has enjoyed using O'Rourke as a foil, taunted him on Twitter as he headed to Tupelo, Miss., for a rally Friday night.
"Oh no, Beto just dropped out of race for President despite him saying he was 'born for this.' I don't think so!" Trump tweeted.
In a fawning Vanity Fair cover story timed to his campaign launch, O'Rourke was quoted prominently saying "I'm just born to be in it."
He insisted later that the comment lacked context, that he was simply saying that he felt drawn to public service, not that he felt destined to run for and become president. But the image of entitlement dogged him, and dragged him down.
That said, Trump had also given O'Rourke much-needed oxygen at key moments. He led a campaign rally in El Paso in February that gave O'Rourke the chance to lead a massive counterdemonstration, elevating his national profile ahead of his presidential launch.
Excited crowds gathered for a first glimpse in Iowa and New Hampshire but by the end, their attention had shifted. For reasons not yet apparent, O'Rourke cut short his campaign so abruptly that his wife Amy, who occasionally joined him on the stump, could not join him for the final moments of his presidential campaign.
"This was a decision that we made so recently and so reluctantly that she can't be here in person," he told a modest but affectionate crowd in Des Moines, wearing a grey V-neck sweater and standing on a box, as he often did. A hint of sadness in his voice, he thanked supporters and aides: "You will always be with us, and I will always be with you."
The anticlimactic end came almost exactly a year after he electrified Democrats in Texas and nationwide as a U.S. Senate nominee, holding Sen. Ted Cruz below 51% and coming within 2.6% of ending the GOP's grip on statewide office in Texas. The $80 million he raised set an all-time record for any Senate nominee anywhere, and he came closer than any Democrat in Texas since 1994 to winning statewide.
The buzz that race generated turned into a siren song, and he heeded it, after some hesitation and a much-mocked solo road trip that he journaled online as he weighed his options.
In March, he plunged into the presidential race as a leading contender. But "Betomania" didn't last long. With no statewide office under his belt, his resume paled besides those of other competitors.
He vowed Friday night to support the party's eventual nominee with all of his energy.
"Though this is the end of this campaign, we are right in the middle of this fight," he told supporters in Des Moines, citing gun violence, climate change, structural racism, and the consequences of the Trump presidency as ongoing issues that motivate him and bring together Democrats.
"I will still be part of all the causes that brought us here together in the first place," he said.
He noted that his last stop before arriving Friday in Des Moines was Newtown, Conn., site of a horrific school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. The gunman killed 20 children between ages six and seven, plus a half-dozen adults.
"I will still be part of all the causes that brought us here together in the first place," he said.
His prospects already flagging, he took a two-week hiatus from traditional campaign activities after the Aug. 3 massacre at an El Paso Walmart that left 22 people dead, attending funerals, consoling families and his community, and serving as the city and border's unofficial spokesman as national attention focused on gun violence and the apparent hate crime.
Rivals lauded the leadership he showed during that episode but distanced themselves from his full-throated advocacy for mandatory buybacks of assault weapons _ his "Hell yes" declaration at a debate in Houston six week after the rampage, affirming his plan to ban AK-47s and AR-15s.
The O'Rourke campaign gave no hints ahead of the decision that he was even toying with such a move.
Only hours earlier, the campaign had announced that he would visit New Hampshire next Friday to file paperwork for the first in the nation primary, and make his pitch that morning at the Politics and Eggs breakfast, a rite of passage for serious presidential contenders.
"Beto O'Rourke is a fighter, advocate, and leader," Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said after the announcement. "In the wake of the El Paso shootings, he made the entire country proud as he focused his campaign on ending gun violence and the rise of white supremacy. We thank him for his service and leadership. He made Texas proud.
"Beto O'Rourke has done amazing things for the Democratic Party in Texas, and we look forward to his future," he said.
The other Texan in the presidential field, Julian Castro, lauded his erstwhile rival.
"Beto has inspired millions of Americans all over our country, and rallied Texans and El Pasoans after the tragedy that struck his hometown. I am thankful for his voice and his continued leadership, and I look forward to working together in whatever he chooses to do next," he wrote.
But O'Rourke's decision ramps up pressure on Castro and other laggards, and could be a sign the field is winnowing to the half-dozen or so contenders whose fund-raising and support are clearly superior.
Many O'Rourke supporters, in Texas and around the country, had hoped that he would turn his sights in 2020 on Sen. John Cornyn, capitalizing on the network and excitement he generated against Cruz. But from the outset of his presidential race he ruled out a Senate bid, insisting it would not be a fallback option even if the White House dream fell short.
With the Democratic primary well underway in Texas for the Cornyn seat, O'Rourke has repeatedly tamped down speculation.
On Oct. 17, when Trump led a campaign rally in downtown Dallas, O'Rourke led a counterrally in Grand Prairie at which he showcased the Democrats competing for a shot at Cornyn _ further cementing his decision to forgo a Senate bid no matter what.
Castro, a former Obama housing secretary and San Antonio mayor, has struggled even more for traction.
He has none of the four polls needed to qualify for the Nov. 20 debate. On Halloween, he successfully ended a 10-day drive to collect $800,000, after telling donors he would be forced to fold without reaching that goal. But exposure in the debates is critical and his campaign manager also warned supporters that there is no viable way forward if Castro is excluded from the next debate.
O'Rourke never found a niche.
As a white male, he was competing with a former vice president, Joe Biden, whose experience he couldn't touch. As a younger alternative to Biden, he ended up overshadowed by Pete Buttigieg, a small-city mayor from Indiana whose charisma has propelled him into contention in a way O'Rourke's promised, but never did.
Carol Donovan, chairwoman of the Dallas County Democrats, said the news was "sad to hear."
"Beto O'Rourke had so many fans in Texas," she said. "He was so popular in Texas and there were so many people who were rooting for him. It's disappointing."
She was resigned to the fact that he won't run for the U.S. Senate seat _ no doubt a relief to the likes of M.J. Hegar and state Sen. Royce West. But she sees an ongoing role for him in Texas and national politics.
"He would certainly have a great chance if he wanted to run for Senate. But he's made it so very clear he's not interested," Donovan said. "I don't see him going for that race. But I don't think we've seen the last of Beto O'Rourke."
"I'm sad for the country, but I'm happy for his wife and his children," said lawyer Steve Ortega, who served on El Paso's city council with six years with O'Rourke. They were part of a generation of leaders who pushed for downtown redevelopment, and took liberal stands such as providing benefits for same-sex partners of city employees.
"He was an important voice on issues concerning immigration and gun control," Ortega said. "He was someone who was sincere in what he stated. He wasn't poll-testing his lines."
