U.S. Rep. Timothy J. Ryan, D-Howland, announced a few minutes ago that he is dropping out of the 2020 presidential race.

HOWLAND — Low on money and struggling to get to even 1 percent in the polls, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan said today he’s withdrawn from the 2020 Democratic presidential race.

Ryan, D-Howland, will run for re-election to the 13th Congressional District.

“I got into this race in April to really give voice to the forgotten people of our country: the workers who have been left behind, the businesses who have been left behind, the people who need health care or aren’t getting a quality education, or are saddled by tremendous debt,” Ryan said. “I’m proud of this campaign because I believe we’ve done that. We’ve given voice to the forgotten communities and the forgotten people in the United States.”

The writing appeared on the wall when Ryan’s campaign filed a finance report Oct. 15 that showed he raised only $425,731.01 during the third quarter, the 17th lowest amount among Democratic presidential candidates. It was also less than half of what he collected in the second quarter when he was again at the bottom of the money list of Democrats seeking that office.

As of Sept. 30, Ryan’s campaign had only $158,348.92 in its account. Also, he failed to reach 1 percent in most national polls.

Yet a couple of weeks earlier, Ryan vowed to stay in the race until at least the end of February after the four early-state primaries and caucuses.

That changed with today’s announcement.

“While it didn’t work out quite the way we planned, this voice will not be stifled,” he said. “I will continue to advocate and fight for the working people of this country — white, black, brown, men, women. There’s people who get up every day, take a shower after work sometimes, that are working really hard. And we’re going to continue to fight for making sure that those workers are treated fairly, and that they have access to good health care, that they have a solid pension to retire on.”

dskolnick@tribtoday.com