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Bernie Sanders To ‘Reassess His Campaign’ After Latest Round Of Losses

   DailyWire.com
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN - MARCH 08: Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) attend a campaign rally in Calder Plaza on March 08, 2020 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Michigan holds its primary election on Tuesday March 10. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is “reassessing” his presidential campaign, his campaign manager announced early Wednesday, after suffering a string of devastating losses Tuesday night in three separate primaries, two of which were in key 2020 “battleground” states.

USA Today reports that Sanders is halting much of his campaign activity after losing both Florida and Illinois by wide margins Tuesday night. Every county in Florida went to former Vice President Joe Biden, who won the state 62% to 23% (former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg and former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg, who were still on the ballot in the Sunshine State, chalked up nearly 10% of the vote each).

In Illinois, Biden won 60% to 30%, handily besting Sanders in nearly every Congressional district, including a number of districts that went overwhelmingly to Sanders in his race against Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

Arizona, a “battleground state” like Florida, was a bit closer, but Biden still prevailed there,  40% to 30%. Both Bloomberg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) did well among Arizona voters who did not want to cast a ballot for either of the two frontrunners for the Democratic nomination.

Sanders suffered, again Tuesday, from a lack of motivated voters. Young people who turned out in droves for Sanders’ rally in Chicago just a week ago, failed to make the same effort to turn out to the polls in the Illinois primary, leaving Sanders lagging even in the solidly blue city. And it’s emblematic of Sanders’ troubles nationwide: although the Vermont socialist promised to “expand” the Democratic voter base and draw out new, energized Democratic socialists and progressives, that simply hasn’t happened.

Wednesday morning, the Sanders campaign seemed to finally be coming to grips with reality.

“The next primary contest is at least three weeks away,” Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir told media in a statement. “Sen. Sanders is going to be having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign.”

Shakir, added, USA Today says, that “in the immediate term,” Sanders is “focused on the government response to the coronavirus outbreak and ensuring that we take care of working people and the most vulnerable.”

“No sugarcoating it, last night did not go the way we wanted,” Shakir wrote in a separate email, this one directed to Sanders supporters. “And while our campaign has won the battle of ideas, we are losing the battle over electability to Joe Biden.”

Sanders himself is returning to Washington, D.C., and his job the Senate, where he’ll help to craft legislation addressing the ongoing coronavirus shutdown, Shakir added. “Once there, [the Sanders campaign will] begin holding conversations with supporters to get input and assess the path forward for our campaign.”

In order to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, a candidate needs 1,991 delegates — a clear, numerical majority of delegates available in the state primaries and caucuses. Biden now has 1,153 delegates. Sanders lags well behind at 861 and, at this point, there’s almost no chance Sanders will catch up and overtake the former vice president. It’s also unlikely that Sanders will gain enough delegates to keep Biden from obtaining a numerical majority — a scenario that might have thrown the Democratic National Convention into utter chaos.

In recent days, Sanders advisors and surrogates have begun a campaign to delegitimize Biden’s wins, suggesting that independent states — and the Democratic party, at large — have been trying to “suppress” Sanders voters, but the message has not, it seems, caught on.

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