The Store Closed On Pete Buttigieg!

The end of the crossroads. Pete Buttigieg ends his campaign.

The former South Bend mayor and former frontrunner announced he was going to suspend his presidential campaign to run for president. The latest shakup is Pete Buttigieg.

The troll, Donald J. Trump decided to give Mayor Pete the send off.

Pete Buttigieg is OUT. All of his SuperTuesday votes will go to Sleepy Joe Biden. Great timing. This is the REAL beginning of the Dems taking Bernie out of play - NO NOMINATION, AGAIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2020

After coming in fourth place in the South Carolina Democratic Primary, the former South Bend mayor has decided to end the race.

He went back to Indiana shortly after he participated in the Selma, Alabama March across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The impromptu event comes hours after reports that Buttigieg was dropping out the race following the disappointing showing.

"It's so good to be in South Bend. Sometimes the longest way around really is the shortest way home. Here we are," Buttigieg told the cheering crowd.

"We got into this race for a reason. We got into this race in order to defeat the current president and in order to usher in a new kind of politics. And that meant guiding our campaign by the values we like to call the rules of the road. Respect belonging, truth, teamwork, boldness, responsibility, substance, discipline, excellence, and joy. And every decision we made was guiding by these values. One of those values is truth. And today is the moment of truth. After a year of going everywhere, meeting everyone, defying every expectation, seeking every vote, the truth is that the path has narrowed to a close. For our candidacy if not for our cause."

Pete and his husband Chasten. The former South Bend mayor was hoping to win the nomination for president.

"We have a responsibility to consider the effect of remaining in this race any further. Our goal has always been to help unify Americans to defeat Donald Trump and win the era for our values. And so we must recognize that at this point in the race the best way to keep faith with these goals and ideals is to step aside and help bring our party and our country together. So tonight, I am making the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency. I will no longer to be the 2020 Democratic nomination for president. But I will do everything in my power to ensure that we have a new Democratic president come January."

An Afghanistan war veteran and the first openly gay candidate to seriously contend for the presidency, Buttigieg rose to the field's top tier as an eloquent, disciplined speaker with a promise to unite Democrats, independents and moderate Republican voters.

But he struggled as the race moved to more diverse states, less dependent on college-educated voters, culminating in a harsh loss to fellow moderate Joe Biden in the Saturday's South Carolina primary.

Speaking to a crowd in South Bend, he said his goal now was to unify the Democratic party against President Donald Trump and "win with our values."

“We began this unlikely journey with a staff of four," he said. "No big email lists. No personal fortune. Almost nobody knew my name and almost no one could pronounce it.”

The speech came one day after Buttigieg won just 3 percent of black voters in South Carolina, according to NBC News exit polls, reinforcing concerns about his ongoing inability to win votes from one of the party's most important constituencies despite the candidate's efforts to address the issue.

A Buttigieg official said the campaign saw "a very, very narrow path" to victory and that "we weren't where we needed to be" after South Carolina.

Buttigieg and his husband Chasten will at least have some good news at the end. They are working on starting a family and we can only wish him the best.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is a polarizing figure in the Democratic primary. His anger and populism is good for the party, bad for the election. He has the Trump-like cult followers and he's been protesting the Democratic National Convention rules despite he agreeing to them.

Biden's victory does make this a longer race. With Buttigieg out, Super Tuesday will see the remaining candidates fall. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Biden have to win or they're toast.

Sanders is still the clear frontrunner in this event.