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Chelsea Manning lost Tuesday's bid for a US Senate seat in Maryland incumbent president Ben Cardin defeated him and six other challengers in the Democratic primary of the state.
Manning drew national attention when she filed in January to run against the 74-year-old Cardin.
The government's 30-year-old intelligence whistle-blower, a former intelligence analyst, has begun her run with some momentum, but her campaign has stalled in recent weeks as appearances and fundraising dwindle, reports The Washington Post.
Manning conceded with an online statement Tuesday addressing his withdrawal in campaign efforts to focus on his physical and mental health in recent months. She thanked her staff and volunteers for their work while telling her supporters to realize the "power we have as individuals".
"We started this campaign knowing that it was a long-shot," writes Manning in his dealership. "But having spent hours and hours knocking on doors and phoning, I am convinced that the change that people really need goes far beyond what our corrupt bipartite system is willing to offer."
Last month, Manning posted a thread on Twitter claiming that Maryland residents were not interested in voting and that "The primaries are faked."
In one of his tweets, Manning said that "we need something radically different and we can not ask for it or expect it to happen in one way or another" .
Cardin, who has long played on the political scene of Maryland, is a big favorite to win a third Senate term in the November general election in the highly democratic state.
Manning, in his campaign, called for abolishing the US Immigration and Customs Agency several months before being brought to light by President Donald Trump's policy of cracking down on undocumented immigrants. separating parents from their children at the US-Mexico border.
"We do not need ICE," she said in an interview with Democracy Now! in March. "We do not need a lot of these gigantic police agencies that singularly focus on people who deport."
Manning, a former army soldier, pleaded guilty in 2013 to having forwarded more than 700,000 government records to WikiLeaks. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but was released in May 2017 after former President Barack Obama commuted his sentence in January of the same year, as he was leaving his post.
She became a symbol of transgender rights when she was in prison when she went on a hunger strike to protest against officials who refused her request for such confirmation treatment. Manning, who was assigned male at birth and made the transition during his imprisonment, ended his strike after the army complied with his request.
This story was updated with a Manning concession statement.
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