Elizabeth Warren has withdrawn from the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. Her decision comes amid mounting pressure, following a stinging defeat on the biggest voting day of the Democratic presidential candidate race, Super Tuesday.

Despite an early surge that positioned her as the Democratic frontrunner just five months ago, over time Warren has seen her numbers slip and has faced a series of blows, including a crushing third place finish in her home state of Massachusetts this week.

Her exit leaves just three candidates in the race: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard. However, given Gabbard has only won two delegates thus far, it is now effectively a two-horse race between Biden and Sanders. 

In other words: despite having the most diverse group of candidates in history, the presidential race has been whittled down to two men.

“The largest, most diverse presidential field in American history has winnowed down to a 77-year-old straight white man, a 78-year-old straight white man, and Tulsi Gabbard,” political reporter Scott Bixby said.

Even before Super Tuesday, Warren faced mounting pressure to drop out of the race. Many people accused her of splintering the progressive vote with Sanders, and thus, paving the way for a Biden victory. However, given Warren’s voters were largely made up of highly-educated professional women who were drawn to her as a politician, it is not necessarily the case that they will align themselves with Sanders going forward.

Many of her supporters have already expressed their disappointment over the outcome. Writer and lawyer Jill Filipovic said: “This is so heartbreaking, and it feels so damn personal. How many times, in how many contexts, have we seen a smart, competent, dynamic woman who is so head and shoulders above everyone else in the room get ignored or pushed out? How many times have we wondered was I that woman?”

Journalist Michelle Ruiz added: “So personal. So many of us see ourselves in @ewarren. She’s they type of woman we were raised to be, and who I tell my daughter she can be: smart, bold, with big dreams and ideas. The American electorate continually rejects us, but guess what? WE WILL NEVER STOP.”

Feminist author Jessica Valenti said: “It’s enough to make me feel, well, despairing: that we had the candidate of a lifetime — someone with the energy, vision, and follow-through to lead the country out of our nightmarish era — and that the media and voters basically outright erased and ignored her.” She added: “Don’t tell me this isn’t about sexism. I’ve been around too long for that.”

While writer Clint Smith simply said: “She deserved better.”

As one of the most talented and experienced politicians in the race, Warren’s failure to perform does not add up. Her defeat must, at least in part, come down to gender as Democratic voters, desperate to beat Trump, have struggled to grapple with her so-called “electability”. 

NBC reporter Sahil Kapur said he had “lost count of how many voters I met on the road who said they loved Elizabeth Warren but wouldn’t vote for her because they just didn’t believe the country would elect her.”

Warren deserved better.

Image: Getty