BERNIE SANDERS IS ending his second bid for the presidency, the campaign staff was informed on a conference call Wednesday morning, according to campaign sources.
Sanders’s departure from the race comes a day after the state of Wisconsin went forward with a controversial in-person election, which Sanders had called to be postponed. The Vermont senator was momentarily the frontrunner for the nomination, following a popular-vote win in Iowa, a win in New Hampshire, and a decisive victory in Nevada. His chances fell apart in South Carolina, where the dean of the state party, Rep. Jim Clyburn, gave an impassioned endorsement to former Vice President Joe Biden. A race that had been narrowing turned into a blowout.
Party moderates then coalesced around Biden, who soared in the polls, pulling off the biggest comeback in the shortest amount of time, measured by a swing in the polls, since the modern primary process began in 1972. Biden won a majority of states on Super Tuesday and continued racking up victories throughout March.
Report: Suspected Site of Noah’s Ark ‘100 Percent Confirmed’ to Be a ‘Manmade Object’
Sophie Cunningham Sends Message to Trans Mob and Her Critics, Telling Them to ‘Kick Rocks’ with Pre-Game Sweatshirt
Canadian PM Carney says he was prepared for Trump ordering invasion
Soros-linked prosecutor faces primary challenge as fellow Democrat targets his record
Todd Blanche vows Supreme Court appeal after court blocks third-country deportations
Reform slips behind Labour and Conservatives in latest voter poll thanks to ‘Burnham bounce’
Xi announces new pandas coming to Atlanta in coming days
‘So Look…’: El-Sayed Answers Whether a ‘Jewish Zionist’ Has a Place in the New Democratic Party
Bombshell: CNN’s Entire Newsroom May End up Working for Elon Musk as Paramount-WB Merger Steamrolls Lefties
Biden-appointed judge hands Letitia James setback in latest Trump legal clash
Florida deputies taser sword-wielding burglary suspect, video shows
Top public university’s ‘LGBTQ+ lab’ hit with race-bias complaint amid $700K in Trump-era federal funding
Texas triple murderer uses last words before execution to send message to death row inmates
Ken Paxton Shuts Down Alleged Chinese ‘Birth Tourism Center’ Ahead of Race Against Talarico
Trump-Xi summit could hold key to lower gas prices, GOP chairman says
Some in Sanders’s inner circle — including, most vocally, Our Revolution Chair and labor leader Larry Cohen — urged Sanders to stay in the race in order to build his delegate total and leverage that for policy wins within the Democratic Party’s platform. Others argued the platform is largely meaningless and that his greatest leverage is in the Senate, where the economy is being reshaped by an ongoing series of relief efforts historic in scope and scale.
The Sanders campaign had raised $182 million by the end of February, with roughly $19 million cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission records. The Biden campaign, meanwhile, had raised $88 million and had $12 million cash on hand at that point in the campaign.
Sanders’s exit is a boost for Biden, particularly as it relates to campaign finance. Without a primary opponent, he can move more quickly to the general election phase of the race, during which he can spend money raised for that purpose. Had the contest gone all the way to the August convention without Biden having locked up the necessary delegates, he would be restricted to his scarce primary funds only. It’s not entirely clear when Biden can tap general election funds, and lawyers are working to move the date up as much as possible, sources said.
Sanders will be addressing his supporters via livestream at 11:45 a.m. ET.
Story cited here.
