NEW YORK — U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand dropped out of the crowded Democratic presidential race on Wednesday. New York’s junior senator said she was ending her eight-month White House bid so she can help her party defeat President Donald Trump in 2020.

“I think it’s important to know how you can best serve,” Gillibrand said on Twitter. “To our supporters: Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Now, let’s go beat Donald Trump and win back the Senate.”

Gillibrand formed a presidential exploratory committe in January as she started her second term in the Senate and formally launched her campaign in March. In the intervening months she failed to gain traction in the polls or among donors as the Democratic primary field grew to about two dozen people.

Gillibrand suspended her campaign after it became clear she would not qualify for next month’s third round of Democratic debates, according to a memo from her campaign manager, Jess Fassler. Candidates need donations from at least 130,000 people and support from 2 percent of voters in four qualifying polls to make the stage.

Gillibrand tried to stand out from the crowd with a strong focus on reproductive and abortion rights. She promised to only nominate federal judges who recognize the Supreme Court’s Roe. v. Wade decision on abortion as settled law. And she traveled to Georgia and Missouri as lawmakers in those states passed some of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws.

But her message did not break through to Democratic voters, who have largely favored former Vice President Joe Biden in the polls. Gillibrand got no support in a Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday and only reached the 2 percent mark in one poll that counted toward the debate requirements, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Gillibrand said she would turn her political energy toward helping Democrats defeat Trump and take control of the Senate in next year’s elections. Her party won control of the House of Representatives last year.

“I can’t wait to keep speaking out, marching and fighting with you,” Gillibrand said in a video announcing the end of her campaign. “Together, we will make people’s lives better, no matter who you are, where you live or who you love.”

Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate in 2009 after Hillary Clinton — the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee — became the U.S. secretary of state. She won her first full term in 2012 and was easily re-elected in 2018.

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