Klobuchar ends Democratic presidential bid, set to endorse Biden

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is ending her Democratic presidential campaign and will endorse Joe Biden as part of an apparent effort by lower-performing candidates to derail Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ march to the nomination.

National media has confirmed that Klobuchar plans to endorse Biden on Monday night in Texas, one of the 14 states holding contests on Super Tuesday.

“The Klobuchar campaign confirms the senator is flying to Dallas to join Vice President Biden at his rally tonight where she will suspend her campaign and endorse the vice president,” said Carlie Waibel, the Klobuchar campaign press secretary.

Klobuchar’s withdrawal comes a day before the Super Tuesday contests and follows former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s exit from the race. It’s unclear whether Buttigieg will ultimately get behind Biden too.

But the exits of Buttigieg and Klobuchar signal the underlying concern party leaders have about the trajectory of the 2020 race: that unless those candidates representing the more moderate end of the spectrum close ranks behind the most viable choice, Sanders, the independent from Vermont, could steamroll his way to become the party’s standard-bearer in November’s election.

The decision of these candidates to drop out is seen as an indication of efforts to boost a candidate like Biden as the alternative to Sanders before the latter’s delegate lead becomes too great. The announcements followed Biden’s landslide victory in South Carolina over Sanders and the rest of the field – a win that was much larger for the former vice president than expected.

The Sanders campaign hit back: “Establishment is nervous not because we can’t beat Trump but because we will. And when we do, the Democratic Party will again be a party of the working class,” Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir told reporters.

Meanwhile, as another sign of establishment efforts to stop Sanders, former Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid also announced Monday he is jumping on the Biden bandwagon. “Democrats need a candidate who can assemble the largest, most diverse coalition possible to defeat Trump and lead our country following the trauma of Trump’s presidency,” Reid said. “That candidate is Joe Biden.”

A Klobuchar campaign official told Fox News they had a “hunch” she might drop out but her campaign staff, in general, did not know this was going to happen. Many learned about it as it was being made public.

“It sounds like [Klobuchar] really reached this decision herself, today,” the source said.

On Monday, Sanders’ tweeted: “I want to congratulate @AmyKlobuchar for running a strong, issues oriented campaign. I hope her supporters will join us in our fight to defeat Donald Trump in November and win real change.”