Boost to former vice-president comes with another endorsement from outgoing rival Amy Klobuchar

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

Former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg plans to endorse fellow centrist Joe Biden in the Democratic presidential nominating contest on Monday, shortly after ending his own bid for the White House, a top Buttigieg adviser told Reuters.

Buzz of expectation as Bernie Sanders looks to blow away rivals on Super Tuesday Read more

The boost to Biden comes along with an endorsement from outgoing rival Amy Klobuchar, a day before 14 states vote on Super Tuesday, in an apparent bid to consolidate support behind Biden and stop progressive socialist US senator Bernie Sanders.

Five candidates remain for the nomination to take on Donald Trump in the November election, down from more than 20 earlier in the race.

Buttigieg, who entered the Democratic presidential race as a relative unknown, ended his White House bid on Sunday. Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer gave up his campaign on Saturday night after a third-place finish in the southern state in which he had invested most heavily.

Biden’s high-stakes triumph in South Carolina, where his campaign had said his popularity with black voters would propel him to victory after early disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, helped winnow the field.

But it was not immediately clear who would immediately benefit from the departures of Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Steyer.

A Morning Consult poll taken 23-27 February, for example, before Buttigieg exited the race, showed that 21% of his supporters named Sanders as their second choice, 19% picked Biden, another 19% chose the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and 17% favored the billionaire Mike Bloomberg.