Leah Phifer left last weekend’s deadlocked 8th Congressional District DFL Convention as the leader after every round of delegate balloting - though failing to reach the consensus required for endorsement.

On Wednesday, Phifer left the race altogether, saying she was only ever targeting party endorsement and that she wanted no part of a “divisive primary” she said would hurt the party.

“My goal, since first declaring my candidacy in October 2017, has always been to win the DFL endorsement, bring new voices to the table and strengthen the party,” Phifer said in a news release. “A divisive primary season would only serve to weaken the party and distract from the issues affecting the people of the 8th District.”

Phifer’s decision leaves four candidates vying for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor primary in August - Kirsten Kennedy, Michelle Lee, Jason Metsa and Joe Radinovich.

Phifer said it wasn’t an easy decision and that she was proud of her campaign and the issues it brought to the table. Earlier this week, Phifer hinted to the News Tribune that she may drop out of the race, saying she was taking two weeks off from campaigning and fundraising after a hard-fought convention yielded no endorsement.

Phifer won all 10 rounds of delegate balloting at Saturday’s convention in Duluth, but she fell short of the 60 percent threshold the DFL requires for endorsement - topping out at 52 percent.

Despite her seeming popularity, she also became the center of controversy at the convention, where members of the DFL Latino Caucus read a letter asking the party to deny Phifer the endorsement because of her previous work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Latino Caucus said it blames ICE for breaking up families, and that Phifer’s association with ICE “goes against the values of the DFL.” Phifer tried to appeal to the Latino Caucus, saying “I hear you,” and explaining her work with ICE was as a translator giving detained immigrants a voice.

But the Latino Caucus, based in the Twin Cities, was unmoved. On Wednesday, its co-chair, Miguel Morales, described Phifer’s departure from the race as a rejection of ICE and its actions toward illegal immigrants.

“I definitely think that the party heard us, the candidate heard us and Minnesotans voting in CD8 heard us,” Morales told the News Tribune.

Morales explained that the Latino Caucus represents both documented and undocumented Minnesotans, and that it looks at all election races across the state. It was research by one of its caucus members, he said, that uncovered Phifer’s background with ICE. Throughout campaigning, Phifer often referred to her 10-year career in federal law enforcement, citing work as an analyst with both the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Homeland Security. She seemed to fail to mention her work with ICE. The Latino Caucus did it for her in a letter, which it began disseminating the week prior to the 8th District DFL convention.

Morales said the Latino Caucus did consider the appeal from Phifer, who spoke directly to caucus members in Spanish while at the convention dais.

“We definitely heard everything she had to say,” Morales said. “It didn’t fall on deaf ears. But one of the issues for us as a Latino community was her background.”

Phifer also posited to the News Tribune earlier this week that some in the DFL resented her for challenging incumbent Rep. Rick Nolan, who is beloved by many in the DFL. They blamed her, she said, for pressing Nolan into retirement at the end of the term. At the convention, Nolan endorsed her closest challenger, Radinovich. Nolan has since retracted that endorsement, saying he’ll look again at the candidates that file for the primary.

“I think people who didn’t want Congressman Nolan to retire partially blame me for that,” Phifer said earlier this week.

Phifer toured the 8th District on motorcycle last summer, exploring the possibility of a congressional run. She differed with Nolan on proposed copper-nickel mining, saying it ought to remain part of a state approval process and not one to be federally legislated as Nolan has done by pushing a few measures in the House.

Convinced she had a strong base of support, Phifer announced her campaign last fall. In February, Nolan announced his retirement. It came at a time when Phifer was appearing on the cover of Time magazine, along with several other women running for office in the era of the #MeToo movement and President Trump resistance.

Phifer said she will not endorse a candidate at this time.

“I have a great deal of respect for the people who worked very hard to make me, a political newcomer and grassroots candidate, the top delegate-earner on every ballot for an open congressional seat,” she said in her news release. “It’s my hope they will go on to choose someone who follows the path we carved out and runs a positive campaign focused on the issues.”

Phifer had earned widespread support from some of the DFL’s most progressive contingents - notably those who valued protecting the environment over mining expansion. She tried to appeal to Iron Rangers by saying she grew up in a family of northern Minnesota miners. But she never gained traction on mining given other candidates, including Metsa, Radinovich and Kennedy, all favored the jobs and economic boost a new form of mining might bring to northern Minnesota.

“She gave a voice to those of us who felt we hadn’t had one in a very long time,” said her campaign co-chair Robert Miller, of Hermantown, in the Phifer news release. “We’ve been empowered and will continue to raise our concerns and expect them to be taken them seriously.”

Another thing working against Phifer was money. Metsa ($132,000) and Radinovich ($108,000) were able to outraise Phifer ($82,000) despite their campaigns being roughly six weeks old heading into the convention compared to Phifer’s more than six months of campaigning.

“We never planned to go to a primary,” she said earlier this week. “We felt as an endorsement fundraising number we could be successful with 80K. But it would be difficult to be successful in a primary with that figure. Other candidates were tapping into other money outside the district. We didn’t want to spend time doing that.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Radinovich commended Phifer’s grasp of the 8th District despite being a political newcomer.

"Leah and I didn't agree on everything, in particular her decision to challenge one of the most effective members of Congress in the country,” Radinovich said, citing her challenge to Nolan. “But I understand the value in expressing alternative points of view in politics.”

Phifer currently serves as adjunct faculty at Augsburg University. She said she will finish the spring semester before taking on any new challenges.

“It was such an honor to be trusted with the hopes and dreams of the 8th District,” she said. “Whatever I decide to do, I’ll be working to make our vision of the future a reality.”