CNN is reporting that former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is suspending his presidential campaign tonight.

Campaign aide tells me Pete Buttigieg is suspending his campaign this evening. — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 1, 2020

the former Mayor is returning to Indiana to deliver a speech in South Bend this evening, aide says — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 1, 2020

A Buttigieg campaign aide has reportedly confirmed the news to CNN, as tweeted by Jake Tapper. CNN just reported the story live on air moments ago.

The news seemed to come as a surprise to CNN anchor Ana Cabrera and her guests this evening, former presidential adviser David Gergen and political commentator and former South Carolina State Representative Bakari Sellers.

Both Gergen and Sellers had words of praise for Buttigieg, running his first national campaign, and also for two of his top communications staffers, communications director Lis Smith and traveling press secretary Nina Smith.

Gergen called Buttigieg’s decision a “generous gesture” and called him “a bright star for the future” of the Democratic Party, having run a “good campaign,” and coming “a long, long way in a very short time and really stood for new civil rights in this country.”

Sellers disagreed with Gergen calling Buttigieg the “future” of the Democratic Party, saying instead that he viewed him as “the right now of the Democratic Party.” Sellers also highlighted Buttigieg’s efforts to reach out to the African-American community and how it was “a monumental moment in this country for civil rights to see a gay man and his husband on the front of [Time] magazine.”

Lis Smith and Nina Smith also earned kudos from Sellers, who called them “phenomenal people” for their work on Buttigieg’s campaign, which succeeded beyond most political observers’ expectations.

But despite winning a narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses, Buttigieg was unable to capitalize on that early success, partly due to the delayed reporting of the Iowa results and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar‘s strong debate performance that boosted her in New Hampshire.

After Buttigieg underperformed in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, the looming Super Tuesday contests this coming week were looking even more uphill for him. Most commentators reacting to the news seemed in broad agreement that Buttigieg leaving the race would benefit former Vice President Joe Biden.

Tapper posted some additional tweets just after 6:30 pm ET, reporting that the campaign aide who confirmed Buttigieg was ending his campaign was describing the candidate’s decision as focused on helping the Democrats put forward the strongest possible candidate against Trump.

Citing previous comments by Buttigieg, Tapper concluded that he would not likely be throwing his support to former Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who Buttigieg has described as too extreme to successfully build a coalition across the spectrum of Democrats, much less win over independent and moderate voters.

Buttigieg aide says “he’s getting out for the same reason he got in: he believes we need to beat Donald Trump and that we need to make sure we have the strongest candidate possible to do it.” And who might that be?… — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 1, 2020

2/ Well in terms of who it is not, in his view, keep in mind that Buttigieg said the night of the Nevada caucus: “I believe the best way to defeat Donald Trump…is to broaden and galvanize the majority that supports us on critical issues…. — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 1, 2020

3/“… Sen. Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans.” — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 1, 2020

This story is breaking news and has been updated.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]