Campaign signals Sanders may be open to exit
Bernie Sanders signaled Wednesday that he was open to ending his presidential run after another round of landslide losses to Joe Biden, and new signs emerged of communication between the two camps as some Democrats hoped for a swift end to a bruising primary.
Sanders campaign officials said the senator from Vermont planned to leave Washington and return home, where he and his wife, Jane, would talk to supporters and determine the future of his presidential run.
The campaign also suspended its Facebook ads and, uncharacteristically, made no request for donations in an email to backers updating them on the situation.
Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield revealed that aides to the two candidates have been in touch regularly to discuss the public health crisis that has gripped the country, disclosing talks that could form the basis of a broader agreement on policies and might make Sanders more comfortable leaving the race.
The two campaigns “have been in regular contact at a senior level” since last week to discuss how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the
campaigns, Bedingfield said in a statement to The Washington Post, “as well as to discuss both Vice President Biden’s and Senator Sanders’ ideas on policy responses to the virus.”
She added: “While the two campaigns obviously have their differences, they are working together to try to promote the health and safety of their teams, those who interact with the campaigns, and the American people.”
Biden campaign officials have also adopted an internal policy of no longer attacking Sanders, according to one of them, even as some surrogates for the former vice president increased public pressure on the senator to step aside.
The moves are the clearest signs yet that Sanders is giving serious thought to ending his campaign, which fell further behind on Tuesday night after a drubbing in three more primaries, and that Biden’s team is eager to offer olive branches to ease a potential departure.
If Sanders does exit, the Democratic Party will immediately confront the challenge of avoiding the type of bitter split that damaged the party in 2016, when the Sanders and Hillary Clinton camps remained at odds after she captured the nomination. Many Democrats think that dispute contributed to Clinton’s loss in the general election and hope to unify more fully this time as they prepare to take on President Donald Trump.
Sanders officials cautioned Wednesday that the senator had made no final decision, leaving open the possibility that he might continue his campaign despite having little chance at the nomination. And tensions between supporters of both candidates raised doubts about their ability to come together quickly or smoothly.
“No sugarcoating it, last night did not go the way we wanted,” Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in an unusually solemn email to supporters that requested no money. After flying to Vermont, Sanders and his wife intend to consult supporters and seek “input and assess the path forward for our campaign,” Shakir added.
Biden won double-digit victories in Florida, Arizona and Illinois on Tuesday, continuing a dominant three-week stretch in which he has built a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates to the Democrats’ nominating convention in July.
Adding to Sanders’ challenges, those three contests could be the last in the near future, giving him little opportunity to change the narrative or trajectory of the campaign. The coronavirus has effectively paused the primary and cast a cloud of uncertainty over the coming weeks.
Several states have pushed back their nominating contests in an effort to avoid large gatherings, and the candidates have suspended rallies and town halls.
Many Biden allies were anxious on Wednesday to bring an end to the competition, fearing that a prolonged battle would undermine the party’s ability to win in November and create unnecessary health risks for prospective voters.
“Bernie is the person – the one person – who can essentially give the Biden campaign permission to start the general election, to start talking to the [Democratic National Committee], to start building the general election operation we need,” said Rufus Gifford, a former ambassador to Denmark and a top Biden fundraiser. “That’s why it matters sooner rather than later.”
Sanders spent the day in Washington attending to business in the Senate, where lawmakers were working on legislation to soften the blow of the pandemic.