To continue his remarks made during a C-SPAN interview on Monday, Senator Bernie Sanders told a reporter on Thursday evening that he plans to vote for Hillary Clinton come November.
Sanders was asked outright whether or not he would be voting for Hillary Clinton. Without offering any qualifiers, Sanders said,
“yes.”
Before this, Sanders had been tight-lipped about making any declarative statements like this, trying to garner the respect his campaign deserved.
Last summer, the Senator famously replied to questions about whether or not he would consider being Clinton’s V.P. with admonishments and a declaration that he intended to win the presidency, not the vice presidency.
Then, earlier this week Sanders said that he was fairly sure he wouldn’t be the nominee – an admittance which shook the Sanders-supporting community and left many wondering what was next.
Sanders’ comments regarding his vote for Clinton does not mean that he is dropping out of the race, though. Sanders says that nothing has changed on that front and that he intends to head to the Philadelphia convention at the end of July to rally for his platform and try to push the party in a more progressive direction.
This revelation, though, puts to bed many of those who have rumored that Sanders might lodge a last-minute independent campaign. Though Sanders has said many times that he had no intention of going solo, devoted supporters clung to the idea as one last-ditch possibility of success for their candidate.
With this comment from Sanders, he begins the long, slow pivot toward supporting Clinton, if for no other reason than to simply defeat Donald Trump. Sanders has said many times that keeping Trump from the White House is the most vital goal of America, but it appears that he has finally decided to take some decisive action behind that statement, and this tacit support of Clinton will not be the last sign of unity.
Watch:
The moment @BernieSanders said “Yes,” he would vote for @HillaryClinton in November. pic.twitter.com/Ke1pFbFRbx
— Danny Freeman (@DannyEFreeman) June 24, 2016
