Last night [Tuesday, April 26], Hillary Clinton walked away with four states in her back pocket as Bernie Sanders managed to take hold of Rhode Island while holding down a slim margin between himself and former Secretary Clinton in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, and Maryland.
While all signs would point to Sanders finally ending his bid to be the Democratic nominee, it seems that the progressive candidate is here to take it all the way through, despite an impending defeat.
“The people in every state in this country should have the right to determine who they want as president and what the agenda of the Democratic Party should be,” Senator Sanders stated in a mass email sent out to supporters following last night’s contests. “That’s why we are in this race until the last vote is cast. That is why this campaign is going to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia with as many delegates as possible to fight for a progressive party platform”
Over at the Clinton camp, things are looking stronger as Hillary Clinton breaks away from the worthy candidate that was once labeled as no competition.
At the beginning of this year, Sanders had made it clear that Clinton’s path to victory would be pretty hard to follow, or in his own case, nonexistent. The former first lady has finally gotten the edge she’s been so desperately needing to bolt to the Democratic nomination.
“With your help, we’re going to come back to Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention with the most votes and the most pledged delegates,” Clinton told a crowd of 1,300 in Philadelphia following her victories. “…We will unify our party to win this election and build an America where we can all rise together.”
Mathematically, Sanders officially stands at a disadvantage. There aren’t enough delegates remaining in this race to help Sanders catch up or even pass Clinton, especially when considering the superdelegates who have seemed to favor Hillary Clinton throughout this race.
One major topic of conversation, however, has switched over to what Sanders will do once the nomination is handed over to Clinton, bringing on the idea of Sanders as the third-party nominee.
While previous debate has hovered over Donald Trump breaking away from the already divided Republican party and running as an independent, recent talk has now put Bernie Sanders in that position.
While entertaining, the notion was quickly dismissed by Jane Sanders (Sanders’s wife) following Donald Trump’s own call to Sanders to run as an independent
Bernie Sanders has been treated terribly by the Democrats—both with delegates & otherwise. He should show them, and run as an Independent!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2016
“The reason that he was active and he decided to run in the Democratic Party was just that: We cannot afford a Republican in the White House,” Jane Sanders told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “We cannot afford a Republican appointing Supreme Court justices. So Bernie will not be running as an independent.”
While Bernie Sanders running as an independent would further add to this already weird campaign year, the inevitable would be a split Democratic ticket that would see the Republican nominee, who will probably wind up being Donald Trump, taking his place in the White House.
While Bernie isn’t considering the third-party run that could ultimately hurt the Democratic and liberal agenda, he’s clear on taking this race all the way back to the city of Brotherly Love come July 2016.