John Delaney, first candidate in 2020 presidential race, drops out before Iowa caucuses

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John Delaney, the former Maryland congressman who was the first Democrat to announce a run for the party's 2020 presidential nomination, withdrew from the race on Friday, citing a lack of support for his candidacy.

Delaney gave up a relatively safe congressional seat in Maryland to run a years-long presidential campaign that began in July 2017, only to exit the race before the first ballots were cast after barely registering in the polls.

"This decision is informed by internal analyses indicating John's support is not sufficient to meet the 15% viability in a material number of caucus precincts, but sufficient enough to cause other moderate candidates to not to make the viability threshold, especially in rural areas where John has campaigned harder than anyone," his campaign said in an announcement Friday morning.