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Former tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang announced on Tuesday night that he has dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.
The big picture: Yang, who's never held public office, centered his campaign on universal basic income, wherein he proposed giving all Americans over 18 years of age $1,000 every month.
The state of play: Consistent mid-range polling landed Yang a spot on all but one of the first debate stages — including as the only person of color in the December and February debates.
- Yang announced his decision in multiple media interviews.
- He had failed to qualify for the January debate. He asked the Democratic National Committee to commission more early state qualifying polls prior to the event, which the committee declined, per The Daily Beast.
- He'd hoped more opportunities to qualify could boost diversity on the debate stage, the Beast notes.
Between the lines: Yang argued he was dismissed by the media as a legitimate candidate, despite his strong polling numbers. Following the November Democratic debate, he demanded MSNBC — the event host — apologize for his lack of talk time, as he was the lowest of all the candidates on stage.
- He was repeatedly left off of graphics of candidates, prompting his supporters to launch a #YangMediaBlackout after an omission from CNN.
- He gained a dedicated online following, dubbed the #YangGang, that backed him across platforms.