Elizabeth Warren, once a top Democratic contender for the White House, has dropped out of the US presidential race after increasingly poor performances in party primaries, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
Ms Warren planned to announce her decision later in the day, the Times said, citing a source close to the Massachusetts senator.
She emerged as front-runner for the Democrat party nomination late last year on the strength of an anti-corruption platform backed by an array of policy proposals, but failed to win even in her home state in the Democratic primaries on Tuesday.
Ms Warren has spoken with Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, the leading candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination, according to their campaigns. She is assessing who would best uphold her agenda, according to a source quoted by Associated Press.
Ms Warren never finished higher than third in the first four states and was routed on Super Tuesday, failing to win any of the 14 states voting and placing an embarrassing third in Massachusetts, behind Mr Biden and Mr Sanders.
Her exit from the race following Senator Amy Klobuchar's departure leaves the Democratic field with just one female candidate: Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who has collected only one delegate toward the nomination in the primaries. It was an unexpected twist for a party that had used the votes and energy of women to retake control of the House of Representatives, primarily with female candidates, just two years ago.
Ms Warren's campaign initially had all the markers of success: robust poll numbers, impressive fundraising and a sprawling political infrastructure that featured staffers on the ground across the country. She was squeezed out by Mr Sanders, whose immovable base of voters she needed to advance.
