Democratic presidential candidate and Navy veteran Pete Buttigieg plans to announce that he is ending his campaign for president on Sunday night.
A campaign official confirmed the news to Task & Purpose on Sunday.
The announcement comes after the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana — and the first openly gay major presidential candidate — suffered a “crushing loss” in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, the New York Times reported.
Buttigieg, 38, was one of the only presidential candidates with military experience, having been deployed to Afghanistan in 2014. In an interview with Task & Purpose last year, Buttigieg declined to answer if he considers himself a combat veteran or not, saying he sees himself only as a veteran and would “leave it to others to decide what else to call it.”
Along with Buttigieg, two other veterans have unsuccessfully attempted to win the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential election: Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and retired Navy Rear Adm. Joe Sestak.
Now Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), a major in the Hawaii Army National Guard, is the only veteran in the presidential race.