US Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke has announced he is ending his campaign.
The former Texas congressman tweeted: "Our campaign has always been about seeing clearly, speaking honestly, and acting decisively.
"In that spirit: I am announcing that my service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee."
Mr O'Rourke, 47, ran for president in March after losing his 2018 bid to oust Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
In that Senate race, he did better than any Democrat had in Texas for decades, running a campaign that invigorated the party nationwide and drew comparisons with former President Barack Obama.
His passionate delivery along with his good looks and background as a skateboarder and a punk rocker endeared him to liberals across the country.
Who will take on Trump in 2020?
But Mr O'Rourke struggled to carry that energy into a White House race crowded with more than 20 Democratic candidates.
On Friday he said his campaign did not have "the means to move forward successfully".
What did Mr O'Rourke say?
Speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, Mr O'Rourke thanked his supporters, many of whom were clearly disappointed.
"How proud I am to be with you," he said.
Mr O'Rourke vowed to support the Democratic nominee who will challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 race for the White House.
"We're right in the middle of this fight," he said.
In a blog post announcing the end of his presidency, he wrote: "We confronted institutional, systemic racism and called out Donald Trump for his white supremacy and the violence that he's encouraged against communities that don't look like, pray like or love like the majority in this country."
Mr O'Rourke was highly critical of the president after a mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, in August, describing the bloodshed as a "consequence" of Mr Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric.
What went wrong?
As the initial buzz over his campaign began to subside, Mr O'Rourke tried to reboot his candidacy.
He began to focus on gun control, and vowed to remove assault-style weapons from private ownership, saying in one televised debate: "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15s."
But he could not catch up with front-runners like former Vice-President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Mr O'Rourke also found himself leap-frogged by another young, charismatic candidate - 37-year-old Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
In the latest opinion poll by New York Times/Siena College on Friday, Mr O'Rourke drew the support of just 1% of voters in the crucial early-voting state of Iowa.
Mr O'Rourke had been urged by donors to drop out of the presidential race and run against Texas Senator John Cornyn, who is up for re-election next year. But the O'Rourke camp reiterated in a statement on Friday night that he did not plan on standing for the Senate again.
Mr O'Rourke is not the only once-promising Democratic candidate who is struggling - California Senator Kamala Harris this week scaled back her campaign, firing some staffers and shuttering offices in another key, early voting state, New Hampshire.
The former Texas congressman tweeted: "Our campaign has always been about seeing clearly, speaking honestly, and acting decisively.
"In that spirit: I am announcing that my service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee."
Mr O'Rourke, 47, ran for president in March after losing his 2018 bid to oust Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
In that Senate race, he did better than any Democrat had in Texas for decades, running a campaign that invigorated the party nationwide and drew comparisons with former President Barack Obama.
His passionate delivery along with his good looks and background as a skateboarder and a punk rocker endeared him to liberals across the country.
Who will take on Trump in 2020?
But Mr O'Rourke struggled to carry that energy into a White House race crowded with more than 20 Democratic candidates.
On Friday he said his campaign did not have "the means to move forward successfully".
What did Mr O'Rourke say?
Speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, Mr O'Rourke thanked his supporters, many of whom were clearly disappointed.
"How proud I am to be with you," he said.
Mr O'Rourke vowed to support the Democratic nominee who will challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 race for the White House.
"We're right in the middle of this fight," he said.
In a blog post announcing the end of his presidency, he wrote: "We confronted institutional, systemic racism and called out Donald Trump for his white supremacy and the violence that he's encouraged against communities that don't look like, pray like or love like the majority in this country."
Mr O'Rourke was highly critical of the president after a mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, in August, describing the bloodshed as a "consequence" of Mr Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric.
What went wrong?
As the initial buzz over his campaign began to subside, Mr O'Rourke tried to reboot his candidacy.
He began to focus on gun control, and vowed to remove assault-style weapons from private ownership, saying in one televised debate: "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15s."
But he could not catch up with front-runners like former Vice-President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Mr O'Rourke also found himself leap-frogged by another young, charismatic candidate - 37-year-old Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
In the latest opinion poll by New York Times/Siena College on Friday, Mr O'Rourke drew the support of just 1% of voters in the crucial early-voting state of Iowa.
Mr O'Rourke had been urged by donors to drop out of the presidential race and run against Texas Senator John Cornyn, who is up for re-election next year. But the O'Rourke camp reiterated in a statement on Friday night that he did not plan on standing for the Senate again.
Mr O'Rourke is not the only once-promising Democratic candidate who is struggling - California Senator Kamala Harris this week scaled back her campaign, firing some staffers and shuttering offices in another key, early voting state, New Hampshire.
