Bernie Sanders is staying in the 2020 presidential race for the Democratic nomination for now, but his campaign manager says he is speaking with supporters to assess his campaign.
The statement from his campaign came after another tough primary night for Sander — the third consecutive Tuesday during which former Vice President Joe Biden swept. Biden won all of the states with Democratic primaries to choose the partys nominee Tuesday: Arizona, Illinois and Florida, winning every county in the Sunshine State.
“The next primary contest is at least three weeks away,” campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in the statement. “Sanders is going to be having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign.”
“In the meantime,” Shakir added, “he is focused on the government response to the coronavirus outbreak and ensuring that we take care of working people and the most vulnerable.”
Sanders’ ‘remarkable passion’
Sanders delivered an address on the pandemic on Tuesday night as results first began to roll in from Florida. He did not speak after results from all of the primary states were reported.
Biden delivered a speech in which he called on Sanders’ supporters to unite behind him. The former vice president now has a 284-delegate lead over Sanders and more than half the nearly 2,000 delegates needed to secure the nomination.
“Senator Sanders and his supporters have brought a remarkable passion and tenacity,” Biden said from his home state Delaware Tuesday night.
Addressing Sanders’ supporters directly, he added:” I hear you, I know what’s at stake, I know what we have to do. Our goal as a campaign and my goal as a candidate for president is to unify this party and then to unify the nation.”
Rise and fall
Sanders went from winning the popular vote in the first three primary contests to quickly falling behind Biden, who moderate candidates consolidated their support behind after his commanding win in South Carolina.
The coronavirus outbreak hit the Sanders campaign at a time when he was already lagging behind Biden in national and primary-state polls. The pandemic meant Sanders could no longer hold his signature large rallies, which have revved up his base. College students, a key constituency for him, were sent home.