Bernie Sanders will assess his presidential campaign after the Vermont senator’s poor showing in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries, his campaign manager announced Wednesday.
“The next primary contest is at least three weeks away. Sen. Sanders is going to be having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign,” Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement Wednesday morning. “In the immediate term, however, he is focused on the government response to the coronavirus outbreak and ensuring that we take care of working people and the most vulnerable.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden substantially expanded his delegate lead over Sanders with his sweep of all three of Tuesday’s Democratic primaries in Arizona, Illinois and Florida.
As of Wednesday, Biden had racked up a near 300-delegate lead over Sanders, according to CNN’s estimate.
“No sugarcoating it, last night did not go the way we wanted,” Shakir wrote in a campaign email to supporters Wednesday. “And while our campaign has won the battle of ideas, we are losing the battle over electability to Joe Biden.”
Chances of Sanders winning the nomination appear mathematically slim and pressure from some Democrats has mounted on the senator to drop out of the race to avoid a lengthy primary and coalesce the party.