Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced on Wednesday he is suspending his campaign to become president of the United States, marking the second time in four years Democratic primary voters has rejected the long-time senator and self-described democratic socialist.
“I wish I could give you better news,” Sanders said during the announcement on Wednesday. “But I think you know the truth, and that is that we are now some 300 delegates behind Vice President Biden, and the path toward victory is virtually impossible. So, while we are winning the ideological battle and while we are winning the support of so many young people and working people throughout the country, 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 announcement clears the way for former Vice President Joe Biden to become the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Biden, whose campaign struggled mightily prior to Super Tuesday, experienced a remarkable turnaround after South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) dropped out of the race. Both Buttigieg and Klobuchar endorsed Biden prior to Super Tuesday.
Bernie Sanders, who appeared well positioned to defeat Biden after the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary, was hindered significantly by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) decision to remain in the primary race through the Super Tuesday contests, despite polling data which showed she had virtually no chance of capturing the nomination.
Sanders’ campaign was the closest a self-described socialist has ever come to becoming the presidential nominee of either of the United States’ major political parties.
Sanders has given no indication that he will run as a third-party candidate, but has instead said he will shift his focus toward helping far-left congressional candidates win in 2020, and exerting more power over the party’s official platform, which will be formulated at the Democratic Party’s National Convention later in 2020, prior to the November election.
Justin Haskins is editor-in-chief of StoppingSocialism.com, a New York Times bestselling author, and the director of the Socialism Research Center at The Heartland Institute. Follow him on social media @JustinTHaskins.
