Sen. Bernard Sanders on Thursday acknowledged that his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination was coming to an end but vowed that his far-left political revolution would continue.
Mr. Sanders promised to work with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton but stopped short of endorsing her, attempting to strengthen his bargaining power at the party’s July convention in Philadelphia.
“Election days come and go. But political and social revolutions that attempt to transform our society never end. They continue every day, every week and every month in the fight to create a nation of social and economic justice,” Mr. Sanders said in a video statement posted on his campaign website.
Far from rallying his followers behind Mrs. Clinton, he beseeched them to remain true to the cause and keep pushing his agenda for a $15 minimum wage, free college tuition, a crackdown on Wall Street banks and amnesty for illegal immigrants.
He stressed that he and Mrs. Clinton still had “strong disagreements” on some important issues, though he said they agreed on others.
“I look forward, in the coming weeks, to continued discussions between the two campaigns to make certain that your voices are heard and that the Democratic Party passes the most progressive platform in its history and that Democrats actually fight for that agenda,” he said.
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Mr. Sanders made the speech after the conclusion of the Democratic primary schedule with the D.C. primary Tuesday, which Mrs. Clinton won.
She had already exceeded the 2,382 delegates needed to lock up the nomination, but Mr. Sanders had vowed to finish the race and take his campaign to the convention.
Rather than pledge support to Mrs. Clinton, the self-described democratic socialist pledged to fight against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“This campaign is about defeating Donald Trump,” he said. “After centuries of racism, sexism and discrimination of all forms in our country, we do not need a major party candidate who makes bigotry the cornerstone of his campaign.”
He described Mr. Trump as a climate change denier who would give tax breaks to the rich and proposed policies that insult Latinos, Muslims, women and blacks.
“The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly. And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time,” said Mr. Sanders.
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Mr. Sanders launched his campaign a little more than a year ago in what appeared to be a quixotic run for the far-left, pitching free college tuition, green energy policies to combat climate change, a crackdown on Wall Street banks and a full-throated attack on income inequality.
During the hard-fought campaign, the gruff and disheveled Vermont senator never changed his tune, which resonated with an army of young and liberal voters that answered his call for a “political revolution” and pushed the Democratic Party leftward.
He won 22 states, garnered more than 10 million votes and secured 45 percent of the pledged delegates, although ultimately falling short of the delegates needed to clinch the nomination.
His success demonstrated that his liberal agenda was “not some kind of fringe idea.”
“It is what millions of Americans believe in and want to see happen,” said Mr. Sanders.
The Sanders campaign also made history with fundraising. Without tapping Wall Street or corporate donors, Mr. Sanders raked in about $228 million mostly from small donations online.
He was the first Democratic candidate to challenge Mrs. Clinton for the nomination, and she welcomed him and focus he brought to America’s middle class.
Now she can’t get rid of him.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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