Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang announced Tuesday he is suspending his presidential campaign after a poor performance in the New Hampshire primary and a failure to emerge from the Iowa caucuses with a strong showing of support.
“I am a numbers guy,” Yang told the Washington Post before speaking to reporters in Manchester. “In most of these [upcoming] states, I’m not going to be at a threshold where I get delegates, which makes sticking around not necessarily helpful or productive in terms of furthering the goals of this campaign.”
Yang told the Post he has not yet decided to back another candidate but said he remains open to joining any potential new administration should the Democrats topple Donald Trump this fall.
“If I become persuaded that there’s a particular candidate that gives us a superior chance of beating Donald Trump, and I think it’s important to make that opinion known, then I would consider it for sure,” Yang told the paper.
Adapting the American economy to the rise of a new industrial revolution driven by new technology was the hallmark of Yang’s campaign. His signature proposal was a universal basic income to unconditionally dole out $1,000 a month to American citizens over the age of 18 in lieu of social assistance programs. The idea quickly became mainstream in the Democratic primary last year as candidates raced to the left of each other on every issue.
Yang placed a distant sixth in the Iowa Democratic caucuses last week. While the results from the New Hampshire primary are still being reported, Yang is on track for another disappointing turnout with nearly 20 percent of precincts reporting.
