The narrow path to victory that Sen. Bernie Sanders often evoked about achieving for the Democratic presidential nomination closed completely Wednesday, April 8, with an announcement that he was suspending his campaign.
By dropping out of the race, former Vice President Joe Biden becomes the presumptive Democratic Party nominee during an election year that has been marred, if not completely devastated, by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sanders, whose second bid to be the nominee began to unravel after a loss in South Carolina and subsequent setback in the Michigan primary, praised his supporters and said, “I wish I could give you better news, but I think you know the truth, and that is that we are now some 300 delegates behind…and the path toward victory is virtually impossible.”
Even so, Sanders contended he had won the ideological battle, that his ideas had proved effective in the exit polls, and that his name would remain on the ballot in order to add to this delegate count and to have some impact on policy at the convention scheduled in Milwaukee in July but now possibly put on hold.
After noting the disappointment his followers would have, Sanders explained his departure. “I know that there may be some in our movement who disagree with this decision, who would like us to fight on until the last ballot cast at the Democratic convention. I understand that position,” Sanders said.
“But as I see the crisis gripping the nation, exacerbated by a president unwilling or unable to provide any kind of credible leadership, and the work that needs to be done to protect people in this most desperate hour,” he continued, “I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win, and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour.”
The decision to bow out of the race was painful, said the 78-year-old senator from Vermont, and while he did not deliver a full-throated endorsement of Biden, he did make it clear that he would work with him to defeat Trump in the general election. “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,” he said. “Let us go forward together. The struggle continues.”