Tim Ryan Drops Out of Democratic Presidential Contest

(Bloomberg) -- Representative Tim Ryan announced he is dropping out of the presidential race and said he would run for re-election to Congress.

“I got into this race in April to really give voice to the forgotten people of our country,” Ryan said in a statement. “I’m proud of this campaign because I believe we’ve done that. We’ve given voice to the forgotten communities and the forgotten people in the United States.”

Ryan, 46, polled below 1% and did very poorly in fundraising. He is relatively unknown outside of Washington, which made it difficult for him to stand out in a field of two dozen candidates, many with high name recognition.

The nine-term congressman representing Youngstown, Ohio, sought to position himself as a moderate Democratic alternative to President Donald Trump, promising to champion working-class Americans who have “been left behind” in Rust Belt states.

The Youngstown area is a former steel-making bastion that has been historically Democratic. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won Ryan’s district, but Trump carried Ohio with a populist message that resonated with voters in traditional blue states. As a candidate, Ryan said his experience made the best placed Democrat to win back those disaffected voters.

He flubbed his performance in the first debate when he seemed to claim the Taliban were behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which Representative Tulsi Gabbard quickly refuted. He failed to meet the criteria for the September and October debates.

Ryan is the seventh candidate to drop out of the Democratic race, leaving 17 contenders.

Ryan raised just $1.3 million for his campaign, and ended September with $158,349 cash on hand, his filings with the Federal Election Commission show.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Kinery in Washington at ekinery@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley

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