Pete Buttigieg quits Democratic presidential race

Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the Democratic presidential race Sunday night, ending a campaign that enjoyed a meteoric rise and outshone those of more experienced competitors but ultimately fell short after being dogged by a lack of minority support.

Buttigieg told supporters Sunday night in South Bend, Indiana, the city he led as mayor until this year, that he no longer saw a path to victory and that he had a responsibility to "consider the effect of remaining in this race any longer."

He said his goal now was to unify the Democratic Party against President Donald Trump and "win with our values."

"We began this unlikely journey with a staff of four," he said. "No big email lists. No personal fortune. Almost nobody knew my name, and almost no one could pronounce it."

The speech came one day after Buttigieg won just 3 percent of black voters in South Carolina, according to NBC News exit polls, reinforcing concerns about his ongoing inability to win votes from one of the party's most important constituencies despite his efforts to address the issue.

A Buttigieg official said that the campaign saw "a very, very narrow path" to victory and that "we weren't where we needed to be" after South Carolina.

It isn't clear whom Buttigieg's supporters will now back or whether he will endorse one of the remaining candidates. Recent polling by Morning Consult found his backers divided over their second choices: 21 percent picked Bernie Sanders, 19 percent picked Joe Biden, 19 percent liked Elizabeth Warren and 17 percent were on board with Mike Bloomberg.

Representatives of the Buttigieg and Biden campaigns have been in discussions about potentially consolidating support around the former vice president, a source with knowledge of the discussions told NBC News.

A Biden campaign official separately said Buttigieg and Biden tried to connect this afternoon and traded voicemail messages.