Grant Rodgers, The Des Moines Register

and David Jackson, USA TODAY

DES MOINES — Martin O'Malley dropped out of the presidential race on Monday night after eight months of barnstorming Iowa trying to build grassroots support for his underdog candidacy.

O'Malley's wife Katie O'Malley and their four children stood by him onstage at Wooly's, a downtown music venue, for the announcement. More than 100 supporters stood in front of the stage cheering as he repeated lines from the campaign trail.

"Look gang," he said. "In conclusion, there is no conclusion. This fight continues. We fought very, very hard in order to give the people a choice, and the people have made their choice tonight. It was hard to get over that threshold here, and I know that those numbers don't reflect all of the hard work that you did. But we have driven this debate."

While touting his executive experience as mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland, O'Malley could never gain traction in the contest against his better-funded rivals. Yet he became a critical player in Iowa recent days. With Democratic caucuses requiring candidates reach 15 percent viability, O'Malley's supporters became coveted by both Clinton and Sanders' camp.

During the campaign, O'Malley and aides protested the limited number of Democratic debates and all but accused party leaders to seeking to tilt the contest toward Clinton.



An acoustic guitar became a campaign staple for the former governor, and he routinely led sing-alongs of "This Land is Your Land" or other tunes. He left the stage without a song on Monday night, but shook hands with the crowd.

In his campaign stops on Sunday, O'Malley urged his supporters to "hold strong" as the campaign sought to achieve viability in as many precincts as possible.

"I’m looking forward to our surprising people on caucus night, beating expectations and then taking that into the next contest in New Hampshire," he told reporters Sunday.