“I don’t want to see people send money to a campaign that’s probably not going to get off the ground,” he said in a video he recorded and provided to The Intercept and The Young Turks.

Former West Virginia State Sen. Richard Ojeda ended his long-shot presidential bid on Friday. A leader of the state’s teachers strikes last year, Ojeda concluded that the campaign ultimately wasn’t winnable and told his supporters that he could no longer ask people to contribute money to a cause he thought was lost.

Hints that he was picking up momentum were strong, he said in an accompanying statement, but not strong enough. “The indications were very positive from an overwhelming response to our videos, to thousands of volunteers, and a level of grassroots fundraising support that grew every day. However, the last thing I want to do is accept money from people who are struggling for a campaign that does not have the ability to compete,” he said.

Ojeda said he is planning to announce his next move soon. He launched his presidential bid in November, running as an unapologetic class warrior from an area of the country Donald Trump won handily. (Ojeda voted for Trump and turned on the president early in his term.) Last month, Ojeda released one of the strongest abortion rights platforms in contemporary Democratic politics. He waged an unsuccessful bid for the House in 2018, losing by 13 points in a district that Trump carried by 49 points two years earlier.

He recently joined striking Los Angeles teachers on a picket line.</s>WEST VIRGINIA (WOAY) – Former Senator Richard Ojeda has announced he is suspending his campaign for President of the United States.

“Today I want to thank from the bottom of my heart all the people who have supported and believed in this campaign. The indications were very positive from an overwhelming response to our videos, to thousands of volunteers, and a level of grassroots fundraising support that grew every day. However, the last thing I want to do is accept money from people who are struggling for a campaign that does not have the ability to compete. So today I am announcing that I am suspending this campaign.

When I was a child my grade school teachers told us all that anyone in America could grow up and become President. I now realize that this is not the case. Unless someone has extreme wealth or holds influence and power it just isn’t true. Especially if you dare to step out of line and challenge the powers that be. The big donors won’t take your calls, the media won’t say your name, and the establishment will do everything they can to crush you. I want you to know though that my fight does not end! I may not have the money to make the media pay attention but I will continue raising my voice and highlighting the issues the working class, the sick and the elderly face in this nation. I expect to have an announcement very soon about what my next steps will be. But know this, this campaign was never about me but about the issues we care about, checking big pharma, ending corruption and elevating the working class citizen. Nothing and no one can stop me from fighting for what’s right. Sappers clear the way. Airborne all the way.”</s>While other Democrats around the country are preparing for presidential runs, a retired Army paratrooper and former West Virginia lawmaker Friday became the first to call off his White House bid after about two months as a candidate.

Richard Ojeda says he isn’t getting the money or attention needed to sustain a campaign.

“The last thing I want to do is accept money from people who are struggling for a campaign that does not have the ability to compete,” he wrote in a statement on social media.

The tattooed veteran who recently ran for Congress announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president on Veterans Day at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington.

Ojeda said he was told as a child that anyone could grow up to be president.

“I now realize that this is not the case. Unless someone has extreme wealth or holds influence and power it just isn’t true,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

Ojeda was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 2016 and became a champion of teachers during their fight for better pay and benefits. He sponsored successful legislation to make medical marijuana legal, and has stressed health care and economic issues in a district reeling from lost coal jobs.

On Friday, he said he’ll make an announcement soon about his future.</s>CHARLESTON, W.Va. — While other Democrats around the country are preparing for presidential runs, a retired Army paratrooper and former West Virginia lawmaker is the first to call off his White House bid after just two weeks as a candidate.

Richard Ojeda, a tattooed veteran who recently ran for Congress, says he isn't getting the money or attention needed to sustain a campaign.

Ojeda stepped down from the state Senate and announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president on Veterans Day earlier this month. Ojeda said on social media Friday that he was told as a child that anyone could grow up to be president.

He says he now realizes that "unless someone has extreme wealth or holds influence and power it just isn't true."

Ojeda, who emphasized health care and economic issues, says he'll make an announcement soon about his future.</s>Several political heavyweights have yet to enter the 2020 presidential race, but the expansive Democratic field hoping to challenge Donald Trump shrank by one on Friday, as charismatic military veteran Richard Ojeda ended his long-shot White House bid.

The blunt-talking, tattooed former paratrooper and state lawmaker from West Virginia voted for Trump in 2016 but soured on him quickly, and launched a fiercely pro-labor presidential campaign seeking to return the Democratic Party to its roots as a champion of working-class Americans.

But in a post on his Facebook page, the 48-year-old Ojeda acknowledged that while he received "overwhelming" grassroots support, he did not have sufficient finances or backing from the political establishment to stay in the race for the long term.

"The last thing I want to do is accept money from people who are struggling for a campaign that does not have the ability to compete," he said.

Ojeda rose to prominence last year when he aligned with thousands of West Virginia teachers striking for better working conditions, and for his passionate battle to help end the opioid crisis ravaging many American communities.</s>West Virginia state Sen. Richard Ojeda (D) ended his 2020 presidential campaign Friday, saying it would be difficult to continue to ask people to donate to a campaign with little chance of success.

"I don’t want to see people send money to a campaign that’s probably not going to get off the ground,” Ojeda said in a video posted by the Young Turks.

"I want you to know though that my fight does not end," he continued. "I may not have the money to make the media pay attention but I will continue raising my voice and highlighting the issues the working class, the sick and the elderly face in this nation. I expect to have an announcement very soon about what my next steps will be."

Ojeda, a former Army paratrooper who led the state's teachers' strike last year, had declared his intention to run for president in November.

Ojeda drew criticism for voting for Donald Trump Donald John TrumpWarriors visit Obama during trip to DC Kushner's top secret security clearance was rejected twice: report Senate Democrats reject Trump's 'pro-rated' wall funding pitch MORE for president in 2016 then repeatedly criticizing him.

He ran for Congress in 2018, but lost his bid to represent West Virginia's 3rd Congressional District to Republican Carol Miller Carol Devine MillerElise Stefanik seeks to tackle GOP’s women ‘crisis’ ahead of 2020 GOP maps out early 2020 strategy to retake House GOP women face steeper climb in Trump era MORE.</s>Former West Virginia state Sen. Richard Ojeda (D) dropped out of the presidential race on Friday, less than two weeks after he vacated his seat to launch his campaign.

In a 90-second video provided to The Intercept and the YouTube news program “The Young Turks,” Ojeda said he had come to the decision that his campaign wasn’t realistic.

“When I was a kid in grade school, my teachers always said that anyone could grow up and become president,” Ojeda said. “Unfortunately, what I’m starting to realize is that unless you have wealth, influence and power, it’s not gonna happen.”

The Army veteran and pro-coal populist Democrat said he couldn’t in good conscience ask people to continue donating “to a campaign that’s probably not gonna get off the ground.”

Just days earlier, Ojeda had resigned his state Senate seat to focus on the 2020 race. At the time he told news outlets he didn’t want to leave his constituents without representation while he was out on the campaign trail. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) on Jan. 17 appointed Paul Hardesty, former president of the Logan County Board of Education, to fill Ojeda’s vacated seat.

Ojeda announced his presidential run in November, after losing a congressional race against Republican Carol Miller. He vowed to support working-class Americans and to eliminate financial elitism in the federal government by setting wage limits for politicians and enforcing charitable donations for politicians and top earners.

The Democrat didn’t say on Friday what his next step would be. But he declared: “My fight is not over. I’m gonna continue being a voice, and I’m not done.”
Retired U.S. Army Major and former West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda suspends his campaign for presidency in the 2020 presidential election.