3 Weeks From Next Contest, Bernie Sanders Assesses Path Forward After Losses On Tuesday

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:58 am

After a rout of losses on Tuesday evening to former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is reportedly questioning his next moves in the Democratic Party’s primary contests to determine a nominee for president.

Biden won in all three states up for grabs Tuesday, including Florida, Illinois, and Arizona. His total delegate count right now sits at 1,153, while 861 delegates are pledged to Sanders at this time.

To win the nomination outright on the first ballot, a candidate must get 1,991 delegates, a simple majority of the total that are allocated. It’s possible that Biden won’t reach that number, but could wind up with the plurality win.

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Previously, when Sanders had a temporary lead in the delegate count, he said that whoever wound up with the plurality win should also win the nomination. To his credit, when he lost that lead, he stood by his previous comments.

Many have been calling for Sanders to drop out, especially in light of the current coronavirus outbreak. Sanders’ campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said the candidate had plenty of time to think things over.

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

The next contests to take place will happen on Saturday, April 4. They will involve primaries in Alaska, Hawaii, and Wyoming. Louisiana, which was also slated to have a primary election on that date, has canceled the event to address coronavirus fears.

The following Tuesday, a primary election will also take place in Wisconsin.

Also on Tuesday, primary challengers to President Donald Trump were dealt a campaign-ending setback, as the commander-in-chief reached the delegate threshold necessary in order to clinch the nomination for president from the Republican Party.

Chris Walker

Chris Walker is a freelance journalist based in Madison, Wisconsin, who focuses on news, politics, and analysis of world events. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, since 2005 Chris has reported on workers’ rights protests in Wisconsin, opined on four separate presidential elections and written on a number of other political subjects for a variety of national online publications.