Sanders ends presidential run; it’s over to Biden
WASHINGTON: Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign for the White House on Wednesday, clearing the way for former Vice-President Joe Biden, who is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to take on President Donald Trump, a Republican, in the general elections scheduled for November 3.
“I wish I could give you better news, but I think you know the truth,” Sanders said in a video message from his home in Vermont. “I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful, and so today I am announcing the suspension of my campaign.”
The senator noted Biden, who he described as a ‘decent man”, will be the Democratic party nominee but did not issue an outright endorsement of the former vice-president. “While Joe Biden will be the nominee,” the senator said, “we must continue working to assemble as many delegates as possible at the Democratic Convention, where we will be able to exert significant influence over the
party platform and other functions.”
Sanders was widely expected to withdraw following a string of defeats in the Democratic primaries as the party’s moderates coalesced around Biden. He had been in the lead till the primaries in South Carolina, which handed Biden a massive victory that put him firmly on the path to the nomination.
Former vice-president Biden said he will be “reaching out” to Sanders, who, he added, “hasn’t just run a political campaign; he’s created a movement. And make no mistake about it, I believe it’s a movement that is as powerful today as it was yesterday. That’s a good thing for our nation and our future.”
Biden will need Sanders’ supporters, mostly young progressives who have been leery of the Democratic party’s establishment figures such as the former vice-president in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016. They had remained unconvinced about Clinton to the last leading to ugly scenes at the party’s presidential convention in Philadelphia.
Biden will be hoping to avoid that as he made a direct pitch to them. “I see you, I hear you, and I understand the urgency of what it is we have to get done in this country. I hope you will join us. You are more than welcome. You’re needed.”