Delaney disputes reports he's dropping out of 2020 presidential race
Former Maryland Congressman John Delaney is disputing reports that he is being pressured by aides to drop out of the 2020 presidential race by next month amid concerns that he won't meet the higher thresholds to participate in the upcoming September debates.
"No one on my team asked me to drop out of the race and I have no plans to drop out of the race," Delaney said in the statement on Friday. Axios reported, citing anonymous aides, that concerns had been raised about cash flow for the Delaney campaign and exposed classic "staff versus spouse" tensions, with concerns that April Delaney, the candidate's wife, was playing an abnormally active role in the 2020 race.
Delaney directly contradicted Axios reporter Alexi McCammond's report as "incorrect."
"Anyone who spent any time actually reading the FEC reports would see clearly that we did not spend $19 million on the campaign - we spent $9 million since we launched my Presidential campaign. Ms. McCammond is including a large inter-party transfer in her calculations. This easy to confirm error puts the accuracy of the whole story in perspective," he said.
According to his second quarter fundraising totals, Delaney raised over $284,000 in the second quarter of the year from contributions. However, he also loaned his campaign $7.75 million dollars, bringing his total raised to more than $8 million.
Of the contributions, only $71,000 were from donations that were $200 or less. He ended the fundraising period with $7.4 million cash on hand.
Delaney, the first Democrat to enter the presidential race back in 2017, will participate in the second debate of election cycle after meeting both polling and fundraising qualifications set forth by the DNC. He will face off against Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders, among others on July 30.
After the debate, Delaney is expected to continue his whirlwind tour of Iowa after having been on an almost non-stop tour of the state, visiting all 99 counties. During his barnstorm of the caucus state, Delaney will hit the coveted Iowa State Fair to try his hand at "flipping pork chops" and stumping with supporters according to the campaign.
Ed O'Keefe and Sarah Ewall-Wice contributed reporting.
