Bernie Sanders ends presidential campaign [Video]

• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has officially dropped out of the presidential race, dashing the hopes of many for a progressive candidate to challenge President Donald Trump in November.
• The Vermont senator’s decision to end his presidential campaign has effectively handed the Democratic nomination to former Vice President Joe Biden.
• The Sanders campaign has struggled ever since Biden gained comfortable victories on Super Tuesday.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has officially dropped out of the presidential race.

His decision to end his presidential campaign has effectively handed the Democratic nomination to former Vice President Joe Biden. It also ended the hopes of many for a progressive candidate to challenge President Donald Trump in November.

Sanders announced his decision on Wednesday during a conference call with campaign staffers.

Sanders had previously overtaken Biden as the Democrats’ frontrunner when he rose to the top of the polls. However, Biden’s victories on Super Tuesday and the following primaries earned the former vice president a significant lead.

Biden won the important support of Black voters throughout the South. He also gained comfortable leads in several states such as South Carolina and Texas, and even in Michigan, where Sanders had hoped to win.

The Tuesday primaries also resulted in Biden’s easy victories in the states of Florida, Illinois, and Arizona. While Ohio’s Tuesday primary was postponed to June, Biden’s total delegate count has reached 1,153 — as compared to Sanders’ 861.

According to a Sanders campaign manager, the Vermont senator had to reassess his presidential bid following Tuesday’s losses and discuss it with his supporters.

Most of the previous Democratic presidential candidates who dropped out of the race had rallied behind Biden and gave him their endorsements — including Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.) and Cory Booker (N.J.); and billionaire Mike Bloomberg.

The endorsements from former mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar  (Minn.), and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, in particular, were believed to have significantly helped him with his Super Tuesday win.

Following the wave of support for Biden, the Sanders campaign was left reeling with limited options to secure enough delegates heading into the Democratic National Convention in July.

Biden had been pitching himself as the most electable candidate, and the polls seem to agree. The Democrats’ primary goal had been to find a candidate who could defeat Trump ― even if they didn’t completely agree with that person on every issue. 

Source: Aol.com