California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris ended her 11-month run for president Tuesday, a victim of failing finances, skidding poll numbers and growing concerns about her ability to manage her campaign.

“I’ve taken stock and looked at this from every angle, and over the last few days have come to one of the hardest decisions of my life,” Harris said in a statement. “My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue.”

While the timing was a surprise, the announcement wasn’t. In recent days, news swirling around the campaign made it apparent that it was a question of when, not if, Harris would give up the presidential pursuit that she launched in January with a high-energy rally that brought 20,000 people to the streets of Oakland.

“I’m running for president because I love my country,” she said at that rally. “I’m running to be a president by the people, of the people, for all people.”

But on Tuesday, she admitted that run was over.

“In good faith, I can’t tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do,” she said in an emailed message. “So, to you my supporters, it is with deep regret — but also with deep gratitude — that I am suspending my campaign today.”

It has been the honor of my life to be your candidate. We will keep up the fight. pic.twitter.com/RpZhx3PENl — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 3, 2019

The final decision came quickly. On Monday the campaign had announced that Gov. Gavin Newsom would be in Iowa Dec. 14 and 15 to campaign for his fellow Californian.

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The senator “took a hard look at the campaign’s resources over the Thanksgiving holiday,” said a campaign aide, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely. Harris “made this decision because she realized the financial realities of this race have made it clear the path to success in Iowa and later primary contests is not possible.”

The final decision to drop out was reached Monday after she spoke with family and senior aides.

The financial hurdles were insurmountable, the aide said. By the end of this week, Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, will have spent on advertising alone twice what Harris has raised, with more on the way.

Harris is one of seven candidates who had already qualified for the Dec. 19 Democratic presidential debate in Los Angeles by hitting polling and campaign-contribution goals. But that’s been about the only good news her campaign has had in recent weeks.

In July, the former California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney was one of the front runners with 15% support in the polls, behind former Vice President Joe Biden, but slightly ahead of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Since then, however, Harris has been in a slow, steady slide, falling further behind the leaders, getting passed by South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and slipping into single digits.

The most recent RealClearPolitics polling average found her running sixth at 3.4%, behind even Bloomberg, who has been in the race for just two weeks.

Several of her former Democratic competitors wished Harris well, and President Trump also weighed in, tweeting: “Too bad. We will miss you Kamala!”

Harris tweeted back, “Don’t worry, Mr. President. I’ll see you at your trial.”

Don’t worry, Mr. President. I’ll see you at your trial. https://t.co/iiS17NY4Ry — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 3, 2019

Although Harris cited her fundraising woes as the reason for her decision to drop out, that was far from her only problem.

There was a growing feeling that Harris hadn’t provided a clear, coherent message about what she and her campaign stood for and what she would bring to the White House that the other candidates wouldn’t.

That indecision was on full display earlier this year when she vacillated on how exactly she would revise the health care system, at first signing on with Sanders’ government-only insurance plan and then easing away to come up with a plan that allowed some private insurance.

Her decision in late October to cut her campaign staff and focus all her effort on Iowa left hard feelings among campaign workers suddenly out of a job. The campaign insisted that the plan to refocus the campaign had been planned for a while, but political staff shakeups don’t happen when everything is going well.

There has been plenty of sniping, both inside and outside the campaign. In a Nov. 11 resignation letter obtained by the New York Times, Kelly Mehlenbacher, state operations director for Harris, slammed the campaign and its leaders.

“This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly,” Mehlenbacher said. “While I still believe that Senator Harris is the strongest candidate to win in the General Election in 2020, I no longer have confidence in our campaign or its leadership.”

Mehlenbacher immediately signed on with the Bloomberg campaign.

Harris probably spared herself a home state embarrassment in ending her campaign. By getting out now and not waiting until the primary season, Harris can keep her name off the March 3 California ballot. The last day for removing a name from the ballot is Dec. 26.

A November poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found Harris running fourth in the state at 8%, well behind the leading troika of Biden, Warren and Sanders. A poll conducted for the Los Angeles Times late last month by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies found that 61% of the state’s Democratic primary voters surveyed thought Harris should leave the race.

With Harris out, the Democratic primary loses some of the diversity the party has touted. Without Harris, no candidate who has qualified for the December debate is a person of color.

“The Democratic field became much less diverse today, after the only black woman in the presidential race dropped out,” said Aimee Allison, founder of She the People, a national political network of women of color. When Harris launched her campaign, Allison said, “it was evident ... that she would be a formidable contender for the White House — one who was able to attract a multiracial and enthusiastic base that would fuel her historic bid.

“I had hoped that she would be able to recapture some of that early excitement.”

Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, an LGBTQ rights organization, also talked about the broader significance of Harris’ campaign.

“Kamala’s historic campaign has already inspired millions of young people — young women and people of color, in particular — across the country,” he said in a statement. “As a half-black, half-Indian daughter of immigrants competing at the highest level, she has paved the way for future generations of leaders to run for office, too.”

As a sitting senator, Harris will remain in the middle of Washington’s political rough and tumble. She said she’s looking forward to it.

“I want to be clear,” Harris said. “Although I am no longer running for president, I will do everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump and fight for the future of our country and the best of who we are.”

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth