WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Tim Ryan on Thursday said he was abandoning his bid for the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential nomination and would instead seek re-election representing his district in Ohio.
Ryan, whose campaign was marked by slow fundraising and low poll numbers, is the latest to withdraw his candidacy in a slowly thinning field of Democrats seeking the party's nod to run against Republican Donald Trump.
A moderate Ohio Democrat from a blue-collar district, Ryan had positioned himself as a candidate who could appeal to the working-class voters who fled the party in 2016 to vote for Trump.
On Thursday, he said he would instead focus on winning re-election in his northeastern Ohio district, which has lost manufacturing jobs in recent years.
"I got into this race in April to really give voice to the forgotten people of our country. I look forward to continuing that fight," Ryan said on Twitter.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren lead the pack of 18 remaining candidates, down from 24 at its peak earlier this year.
He follows one-time candidates New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and others. Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam says on his Twitter profile that he is still running, although records show his campaign raised only $5 during the third quarter of this year.
Ryan bolstered his national profile in 2016 when he unsuccessfully tried to unseat Nancy Pelosi as the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, arguing it was time for new leadership in the party.