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Posted: 2019-08-28T21:38:36Z | Updated: 2019-08-29T06:13:41Z

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is no longer running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, she announced Wednesday .

Gillibrand dropped out after failing to qualify for the September debate.

Its important to know when its not your time and to know how you can best serve your community and country, she said in her announcement video . I believe I can best serve by helping to unite us to beat Donald Trump in 2020.

We have to defeat President Trump, flip the Senate and elect women up and down the ballot, she added.

Gillibrand framed her campaign as a fight for a return to Americas values, publicizing her consistent anti-Trump record and her past political advocacy and legislation, especially for women and families. She campaigned on protecting abortion rights, ending gun violence and curbing Americas warfare abroad.

At a July campaign event, Gillibrand drew significant attention for her powerful remarks on racism and white privilege: Institutional racism is real it doesnt take away your pain or suffering. Its just a different issue, she told an audience member who had asked about so-called white privilege.

But Gillibrand struggled to gain traction. It took until June for her to announce she had enough donors to meet the 65,000 donor threshold to ensure a spot on the Democratic debate stage. In early June, she hinted shed be willing to support another Democratic candidate if they had a better chance of defeating President Donald Trump.

I think its important that one of us survives, because its really important that our nominee is absolutely impenetrable, she said at an event in early June , according to HuffPosts Emma Gray. I want to make sure that we have the strongest most capable nominee possible.

Gillibrand first hinted at a presidential bid in November 2018 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She returned to the show that January with a more concrete declaration: she had formed an exploratory committee for president . In March, Gillibrand announced she was running for president outside Manhattans Trump International Hotel after releasing her first campaign ad .

Gillibrand, who attended Dartmouth College and UCLA School of Law, previously served as a congresswoman for New Yorks 20th Congressional District from 2007 to 2009. She was a Blue Dog Democrat in the House and initially held more conservative views, notably on immigration and gun reform .

But she moved farther to the left during her time in the Senate, and at the start of her campaign revealed her regret over past positions on immigration. I was callous to the suffering of families that want to be together, she told MSNBCs Rachel Maddow in January.

Gillibrand has established herself as a vocal critic of Trump, focusing in particular on his record on womens rights . If elected president, Gillibrand declared in May, she would only nominate judges who will commit to upholding Roe v. Wade.

Women deserve a president who understands the real stakes of this fight for the judiciary, she wrote in an essay on Medium in May.