Bernie Sanders is not dropping out of the presidential race, his communications director said Wednesday.
Bernie Sanders is not dropping out of the presidential race, Sanders’ communications director tweeted Wednesday, contradicting a since-retracted Axios report to the contrary.
Mike Casca, Sanders’ communications director, said a tweet about the suspension of Sanders’ campaign was “absolutely false.”
Casca was responding to a tweet from Laura Litvan, a reporter for Bloomberg News. Litvan’s tweet, which has since been deleted, read: “*BERNIE SANDERS TO SUSPEND PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: AXIOS.”
Axios Issued a Correction After Publishing an Article Reporting That Sanders Would Suspend His Campaign
After deleting her initial tweet, Litvan tweeted two Axios screenshots. One showed a headline reporting that Sanders was suspending his campaign, and another showing a headline that Sanders was suspending *Facebook ads* for his campaign, rather than suspending the campaign itself.
Axios later published a headline that read: “CORRECTION: Bernie Sanders has not decided to suspend his campaign.” The correction notice contains a link to Axios’ story on the deactivation of Sanders’ Facebook ads.
Axios Editor in Chief Nicholas Johnston later said in a statement that the organization’s approval process “broke down” with reporters and editors worked remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager, said in a statement earlier Wednesday morning that Sanders would be “having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign” after losing three primaries to former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday.
The series of tweets came a day after Sanders lost the Florida, Illinois and Arizona primaries to Biden. Fivethirtyeight’s forecast gives Biden a 99 percent chance to win a majority of pledged delegates, making Sanders an extreme longshot to win the nomination. Biden also has a 19-point lead over Sanders in Fivethirtyeight’s national polling average.
When Asked About His Campaign, Bernie Sanders Told a Reporter Wednesday: ‘I’m Dealing With a ‘F***ing Global Crisis’
CNN’s Manu Raju tweeted Wednesday afternoon that Sanders “grew angry” during a press gaggle at the Capitol. “I’m dealing with a f***ing global crisis,” said, according to Raju. “You know, we’re dealing with.”
Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager, sent the following email to Sanders’ supporters Wednesday morning:
No sugarcoating it, last night did not go the way we wanted.
And while our campaign has won the battle of ideas, we are losing the battle over electability to Joe Biden.
So we wanted to give you an update on what is next for Bernie and for our campaign:
First, Bernie will likely have a vote on the coronavirus in the Senate today. He’ll take that vote, and you can expect him to continue his fight to ensure we are protecting working people, low-income people, and the most vulnerable communities, not just giant corporations and Wall Street in any response to the virus.
Then after this vote today, Bernie and Jane are going to get on a plane back to Vermont. Once there, they’ll begin holding conversations with supporters to get input and assess the path forward for our campaign. We will keep you updated as those conversations progress.
In the meantime, please continue to stay safe, and thank you for everything you’ve done so far. It means the world to Bernie and Jane.
After winning the popular vote in the Iowa caucus, winning the New Hampshire primary, then decisively winning the Nevada caucus, Sanders emerged as the frontrunner to win the Democratic nomination, passing Biden in national polling averages, and election forecasts. In late February, prediction markets had Sanders as better than 50-50 to win the nomination.
His fortunes changed substantially on February 29, when he suffered a decisive loss to Biden in the South Carolina primary. Two leading candidates for the nomination — Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar — dropped out of the race after South Carolina and endorsed Biden ahead of the March 3 Super Tuesday victories. Biden routed Sanders on Super Tuesday, building a clear delegate lead and prompting former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to drop out and endorse Biden. Senator Elizabeth Warren later dropped out as well, making it essentially a two-person race between Biden and Sanders.
Discussions about the future of Sanders campaign come amid a primary race disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted five states to reschedule their primaries.
Ohio was scheduled to vote Tuesday, but held no in-person voting after the state’s health director ordered the polls closed. The next slate of primaries aren’t scheduled until April 4.
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