Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Announces He's Not Running For President

Nick Kangadis | September 6, 2019
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Former Starbucks CEO and potential independent candidate for president Howard Schultz announced on Friday that he would not be moving forward with a 2020 campaign.

“My belief in the need to reform our two-party system has not wavered,” Schultz said in a letter on his website, “but I have concluded that an independent campaign for the White House is not how I can best serve our country at this time.”

Schultz announced that he was considering a run for the White House in January, but he has since determined that because of a “few truths” he could use his resources better exploring other avenues.

The 66-year-old, who was also the former Chairman of Starbucks, took a middle of the road approach in his letter that told supporters of his disdain for the two-party system.

“But not in Washington, D.C., where Democrats and Republicans have consistently put party over country, perpetuated divisiveness and gridlock, and failed to solve big problems and enact solutions on which a majority of people in both parties already agree,” Schultz wrote. “The American people are more united than our leaders, and we deserve better.”

Now that Schultz won’t be running for president in 2020, he announced his intentions for the future:

I will spend this election cycle and the years ahead supporting bold and creative initiatives to transform our broken system and address the disparity of opportunity that plagues our nation.

The money that I was prepared to commit to a presidential campaign will instead be used to invest in people, organizations and ideas that promote honesty, civility and results in our politics, and that move the country beyond two-party gridlock. Common-sense policies and initiatives that can help address widening inequality at home, while strengthening America’s standing in the world, will be a priority. Among my early efforts will be to advocate for increased national service opportunities for young people.

I will continue to work with my wife, Sheri, supporting our nation’s veterans and opportunity youth at the Schultz Family Foundation. And I will personally continue to encourage business leaders to play a larger role in creating access to opportunities for people in the communities they serve, and beyond. The public, private and non-profit sectors have untapped ability to come together to improve lives, as Starbucks and other corporations have proven. Government is only part of the solution.

Fox Business noted that had Schultz run for the Oval Office, he would’ve been wealthiest 2020 candidate, coming in with a net worth of $4.6 billion.

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