'I’m not one to accept donations in a race I can't win': Yang quits presidential bid as polls close in New Hampshire

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang has bowed out of the presidential race after early results suggested the Democratic candidate failed to win delegates in the New Hampshire primary.

As early results started pouring in from the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday night, the Democratic field lost yet another hopeful as sources close to the Yang campaign confirmed that the entrepreneur-turned-politician would be ending his presidential bid.

Commenting on his decision to pull the plug on his campaign, Yang said that he does not want to continue taking money from his supporters knowing that he will not deliver victory.

"You know I am the math guy and it is clear tonight from the numbers that we are not going to win this race. I’m not someone who wants to accept donations and support in a race that we will not win, and so tonight I’m announcing I’m suspending my campaign for president.”

“I am so proud of this campaign. Thank you to everyone who got us here,” he tweeted.

Fellow Democratic presidential contender, Amy Klobuchar, who surged in the polls ahead of the New Hampshire primary, was one of the first to lament Yang’s move, saying that she would “miss him” on the campaign trail.

“By thinking outside of the box, you will have a lasting mark in bringing new voters to the ballot box in 2020.”

It has been projected that Yang would gain less than five percent of the vote in Tuesday’s contest – far less than a minimum of 15 percent required to receive any delegates.

Yang did not endorse any of the remaining candidates immediately after he called it quits, but said that he would support any Democratic nominee for president.

Yang was not the only one to throw in the towel on Tuesday, with Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado also ending his bid. Meanwhile, Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, who is winning some three percent of the vote according to the early projections, vowed to stay in the race at least until the South Carolina primary on February 29.

Kicking off his vibrant campaign on Joe Rogan’s podcast in February last year, Yang became best known as a passionate advocate for universal basic income, calling for the government to provide each adult American with $1,000 per month.

Yang was also one among a small number of Democratic candidates refusing to peddle the Trump impeachment narrative, advising his fellow Democrats to focus on rectifying their own policy failures rather than “obsessing over impeachment.”

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