Vice President Joe Biden congratulates Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Old Senate Chamber in 2013.
Photo courtesy Wikimedia
By ELLIANA KOPUT
Less than 24 hours after Wisconsin’s controversial democratic primary election, for which votes have yet to be counted, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has announced that he will be dropping out of the 2020 presidential race.
Although numerous states, including Wyoming, Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska and Georgia, have yet to hold their state and presidential primaries, former Vice President Joe Biden has become the presumptive presidential candidate to run against President Donald Trump.
Sanders made the decision over a conference call with staff members. He later publicized the announcement in a livestream on April 8.
“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,” Sanders said in the livestream. “And so today I am announcing the suspension of my campaign.”
Sanders trailed nearly 300 delegates behind Biden, who led with just over 1,200 delegates as of April 8. He noted that this was a necessary and immensely difficult action to be done in the interest of removing Trump from office.
“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, 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,” Sanders said.
Sanders held a strong popularity among young progressive voters. He won the votes of nearly 67% of voters between 17 and 29 in Nevada. The issue, however, revealed when their turnout did not rise to the extent that Sanders’ campaign had hoped and desperately needed. Even after super Tuesday, less than 20% of voters in each participating state were under the age of 30.
“My thoughts and feelings on Bernie Sanders dropping out consist of a mixture of sadness and disappointment. I supported him in 2016 as well and am very sad to see him fail to get the nomination again,” said Julian Chase, a creative writing major at Pima Community College. “His campaign and his promises of real systemic change completely reinvigorated my interest and investment in politics as a whole.
“His ideology brought hope and inspiration to me in such a profound and moving way.”
As many moderate-Democratic candidates began to fall from the race and after a dominant win in South Carolina, Biden quickly gained endorsements from Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bloomberg, among many other political leaders in the United States.
Elizabeth Warren, however, did not move to endorse either Sanders or Biden prior to Sanders’ dropout. Despite the parallels between both candidates’ progressive takes on climate change, education and Medicare, the lack of endorsement could have been due to the controversy over a sexist remark that Sanders allegedly made toward Warren last year.
“I will still vote for Joe Biden when he inevitably gets the nomination, but Bernie dropping out has left me bereft of enthusiasm for this election cycle,” Chase said. “I feel that the socio-political landscape in America has become stagnant and until I see another candidate like Sanders, I will always feel like I’m picking between the lesser of two evils.”
In a thread of tweets following Sanders’ dropout, Biden addressed supporters of Sanders, noting that they aren’t just welcome but necessary in order to secure the election. His promises were not unlike those previously made by Sanders.
“Together we will defeat Donald Trump. But we will also address the climate crisis,” Biden said. “We will make college affordable. And we will make health care available to all. We will not just rebuild this nation – we’ll transform it. And I’m asking you to join me.”
The likelihood of Biden winning the 2020 presidential election is a question that many Americans will find themselves pondering as Nov. 3 fast approaches. In the meantime, the deadline to register for the Aug. 4 primary in Arizona is July 6.
Tuesday, April 16
