Billionaire Tom Steyer drops out of 2020 presidential race after Biden wins South Carolina primary

Tom Steyer, the California activist billionaire who has largely been a nonfactor in the Democratic primary campaign, dropped out of the race on Saturday night.

Steyer's departure came after a disappointing finish in the South Carolina Democratic primary. With 70 percent of the vote in, Steyer had just 11.5 percent of the vote — despite spending millions of dollars on campaigning there.

"There’s no question today that this campaign, we were disappointed with where we came out," Steyer told supporters in Columbia, S.C.

"But I said if I didn’t see a path to winning that I'd suspend my campaign, and honestly I can't see a path where I can win the presidency."

Steyer promised to remain involved in political issues across the country and said any one of the Democratic candidates for president would be better than President Trump. He also took a shot at Sen. Lindsey Graham, S.C., who represents South Carolina in the U.S. Senate.

"Every Democrat is a million times better than Trump," he added. "Trump is a disaster... Lindsey Graham's a disaster. He's a disaster for the people here"

Thank you @TomSteyer for running a campaign to bring the crisis of climate change to the forefront of our national conversation. I look forward to working together to defeat Donald Trump in November.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 1, 2020

Thank you, @TomSteyer. You've been a powerful voice for climate advocacy and holding Donald Trump accountable. I look forward to fighting alongside you to defeat the climate crisis—and Donald Trump.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) March 1, 2020

The move came shortly after former Vice President Joe Biden won the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary. Fox News projected Sen. Bernie Sanders will finish in second place, with Steyer currently in third.

Steyer has put much of his energy into a good performance in the Palmetto State. He had told supporters and volunteers gathered at his South Carolina campaign headquarters on Saturday that “there is an old saying when you run a race, which is that you don’t run to the end, you run through the tape. And that is exactly where we are today.”

Steyer had a string of lackluster single-digit finishes this month in the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, and the Nevada caucuses. But he has been heavily courting black voters and was optimistic things would be different Saturday in South Carolina, where African Americans were expected to make up roughly 60 percent of the Democratic presidential primary electorate.

"We have a very good team here. I’ve spent a lot of time on the ground and I’m talking straightforwardly about issues," he said. "This is a heavily African-American state. I talk very straightforwardly about race. I’m the only person talking about reparations for slavery. I think I’ve been here the most and looked most people in the eye and talked most straightforwardly and I think that’s why.”

And it’s now over for the California billionaire candidate Tom Steyer:

I’m told, per a source familiar, that Tom Steyer will be dropping out any minute now

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) March 1, 2020

I'm told Tom Steyer "will make an announcement" shortly...

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) March 1, 2020

Poor guy, I think this dancing really killed him:

Tom Steyer has decided to back that azz up out of the presidential race. pic.twitter.com/h14Sl0BMEA

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) March 1, 2020

Now liberals are hoping he will use his money to back the Democrat nominee, whoever it will be. I think he will because he really has it in for Trump…