The best hope of the Democrat Party to unseat the Republican governor of Massachusetts just threw in the towel on his gubernatorial bid and exited the race.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, that candidate was former Newton, Massachusetts Mayor Setti Warren, and he cited “insurmountable” financial odds as the reason for his decision to drop out.
“We took a hard look at the numbers and what it would take to run a winning campaign against the incumbent governor,” Warren told The Boston Globe.
Insurmountable challenge
“I just saw the challenge was insurmountable, based on the ability to raise the money and the resources,” he continued.
“I wanted to run a campaign that would have the capacity to win,’” Warren added. “I saw that we are not going to be able to do that.”
Warren, an Iraq War veteran and former aide to John Kerry, was the frontrunner among Democrats to take out popular GOP Gov. Charlie Baker, based on his name recognition, prior political experience and fundraising ability.
Progressive platform rejected
Surprisingly, the progressive platform he adopted didn’t do him any favors, as it seems policies like single-payer healthcare, free college tuition, high-speed rail and increased income taxes aren’t as popular in Massachusetts as they once might have been.
Warren reportedly raised a mere $16,034 in the first two weeks of April, as compared to the haul of $251,587 brought in by Baker.
The progressive candidate also only had about $51,644 total on hand after campaigning for a year.
Meanwhile, Baker sits flush with roughly $7.9 million in his re-election campaign account and has experienced little trouble in raising funds.
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Warren’s unexpected exit from the race is a serious blow for Democrats who expected to easily snatch away the governorship of a blue state that President Donald Trump lost by 27 points to his Democrat rival.
So much for the vaunted “Blue Wave” of enthusiastic Democrat voters who were going to usher in a new progressive era by wiping out Republicans across the board. They can’t even win in one of their own deep-blue states.