Beto O’Rourke, who first rose to prominence in his Senate race against Republican Ted Cruz, has officially ended his bid for President as of November 1st. The Texas Democrat had been plagued by relatively low poll numbers and a lack of funding for quite some time, and despite his best efforts to break through the crowd and join the other major candidates, O’Rourke’s most recent polls showed him at just 2%. The campaign received a huge amount of attention when it was first announced, as his near-victory over a Cruz in a red state such as Texas suggested that he had the ability to perform well on a national level.

However, his competition was incredibly stiff: names like Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and Bernie Sanders crushed any chance he may have had at winning the nomination. Recently, O’Rourke has drawn attention to himself by illustrating his remarkably tough stance on gun control. He supports mandatory buyback programs for guns across the country, and went so far as to say outright in a debate, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.” While this statement did indeed draw a huge amount of attention to the candidate due to its blunt and honest nature, it failed to bring him up significantly in the polls or increase donations to his campaign by a significant margin. In the end, O’Rourke’s campaign was forced to abandon its efforts, claiming that it “does not have the means to move forward” due to low fundraising and a lack of voter approval. As a result, O’Rourke was a major casualty of the overcrowded Democratic primary.