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Beto O'Rourke has dropped out of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race, admitting his campaign did not have the resources to continue to seek his party's nomination.

The former US congressman had struggled to stand out in a crowded Democratic field, which includes several other big political personalities who managed to capture much of the race's attention as the Texan's campaign struggled.

"My service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee. Acknowledging this now is in the best interests of those in the campaign; it is in the best interests of this party as we seek to unify around a nominee; and it is in the best interests of the country," Mr O'Rourke wrote in a post that he shared on Twitter.

"We will work to ensure that the Democratic nominee is successful in defeating Donald Trump in 2020. I can tell you firsthand from having the chance to know the candidates, we will be well served by any one of them, and I'm going to be proud to support whoever she or he is."

Mr O'Rourke has said that he does not intend on running for the Senate again in his home state of Texas, in spite of persistent efforts to draft him into that race to take on John Cornyn.

The decision marks a sharp decline in political fortunes for Mr O'Rourke, who energised Democratic voters during his 2018 senate race against Ted Cruz. Mr O'Rourke lost that battle, but in the process had drawn out more Democratic votes the state has seen in a generation.

And, with that success came further attention, and speculation even in late 2018 that he could mount a successful presidential run.

His withdrawal leaves 17 Democratic contenders for the nomination to run against the Republican president.

After a gunman at a Walmart store killed 22 people in August in his home city of El Paso, Mr O'Rourke shifted the focus of his campaign to gun control, travelling not only to early primary states but areas where previous massacres had taken place.

Coming from the Texas border city, Mr O'Rourke was also one of the most unrelenting critics of Mr Trump, especially over his plans to build a border wall and his immigration policies.

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"We took the boldest approach to gun safety in American history; we confronted institutional, systemic racism and called out Donald Trump for his white supremacy and the violence that he has encouraged against communities that don't look like, pray like or love like the majority in this country," Mr O'Rourke said in an email to supporters shortly after announcing he was quitting the race.

Reacting to the news of Mr O'Rourke's withdrawal, Mr Trump tweeted on Friday: "Oh no, Beto just dropped out of race for President despite him saying he was 'born for this.' I don’t think so!"

In March, when Mr O'Rourke launched his campaign, he was quoted in a Vanity Fair profile as saying: "I'm just born to be in it."

Additional reporting by Reuters

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