Kirsten Gillibrand drops out of 2020 presidential race

Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ended her campaign to be president Wednesday after she was shut out of the third Democratic presidential debates.

The New Yorker said that though she's proud of what her team has accomplished, "it's important to know how you can best serve."

"After more than eight incredible months, I'm ending my presidential campaign. I know this isn't the result we wanted. We wanted to win this race," Gillibrand said in a video announcing her decision to bow out.

She was among a field of some two dozen Democrats seeking the party's presidential nomination.

Wednesday was the deadline for the candidates to qualify for next month's primary debate in Houston. The Democratic National Committee required candidates to receive at least 2 percent support in at least four national polls, or polls conducted in the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. They also must receive grass-roots fundraising from at least 130,000 total unique donors and have a minimum of 400 unique donors per state in 20 or more states.

As of Wednesday morning, 10 candidates qualified -- former Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

Gillibrand was not among them.