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Twitter Is Totally Shocked By Kamala Harris Leaving The 2020 Race

by Lilli Petersen
Mark Makela/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Is it too early in the 2020 cycle to play "Another One Bites The Dust"? After several weeks of dropping in the polls and rumors of a turbulent campaign, Sen. Kamala Harris of California ended her bid for the presidency. And while the political machine will keep on trucking, these tweets about Harris dropping out of the 2020 race show that a lot of people are shocked to see her go.

In a Medium post on Tuesday, Dec. 3, Harris announced her campaign did not have enough funding to continue. She noted that unlike some other candidates, she was "not a billionaire" and couldn't self-fund her campaign. "I’ve taken stock and looked at this from every angle, and over the last few days have come to one of the hardest decisions of my life," she wrote. She continued,

My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue ... In good faith, I can’t tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do. So, to you my supporters, it is with deep regret — but also with deep gratitude — that I am suspending my campaign today.

Harris entered the race in January 2019, and was quickly considered a frontrunner and rising star for the Democratic party. However, in recent weeks and months she slipped in the polls, generally hovering around fourth or fifth behind former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Sen. Bernie Sanders. At the same time, rumors of turmoil inside her campaign emerged.

Nevertheless, a lot of people were apparently shocked and dismayed to hear that Harris was leaving the race.

A lot of people also pointed out the troubling fact that the departure of Harris, the only black woman running, meant that the remaining high-profile candidates who qualified for the December Democratic debate were white.

A lot of people also tweeted their support for Harris — including celebrities, some of her colleagues, and even her primary opponents.

In her announcement, Harris, who won her U.S. Senate seat in 2016, also promised her fight would not end. "Our campaign uniquely spoke to the experiences of Black women and people of color — and their importance to the success and future of this party," she wrote. "Our campaign demanded no one should be taken for granted by any political party." She promised to continue working to promote reproductive rights, for an end to gun violence, and to counter the policies of President Donald Trump. "We will keep up that fight because no one should be made to fight alone," she said.

With Harris' departure, as of Dec. 3 there are 15 remaining candidates duking it out for the Democratic presidential nomination. Six of them — Biden, Warren, Sanders, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Tom Steyer — have all qualified for the next Democratic debate on Dec. 19.