And Then There Were Two; Bernie Sanders Drops Out of 2020 Presidential Race

By Harry Sutton ’20

Joe Biden is set to become the Democratic National Convention’s 2020 presidential nomination as Senator Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race on April 8, 2020.

For the second consecutive election, Sanders finishes as the Democrats’ runner-up, losing to a more moderate democratic opponent. Sanders emerged as one of the frontrunners from the very start of the race, competing fiercely with Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden for months. Sanders’ campaign received over 10 million donations over the course of his campaign and won primaries in big states such as California and Colorado. Sanders was a total of 303 delegates behind Biden when he suspended his campaign after losing huge battles in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. 

While many of the former candidates for the Democratic nomination dropped out of the race and immediately endorsed Joe Biden with the sentiment of beating Donald Trump, Sanders waited almost a week to vocally announce his support of Biden. As Sanders is a more progressive Democrat, his ideologies have clashed with those of the more moderate Biden time and time again. It is possible that Sanders did not originally want to support Joe Biden, but after pressure from the rest of the Democratic party, he officially endorsed Biden on April 13, 2020. 

Despite the likes of Klobuchar, Buttigieg, and more former candidates immediately backing Biden’s campaign, there is still major polarization between the progressive and moderate Democrats, as those who supported Warren and Sanders have not automatically transitioned to supporting Biden. While there is much division between moderate and progressive liberals, Biden has confirmed that he intends to select a female running-mate for the 2020 election, meaning the choice of Warren could be impactful in rallying Democrats on each side of the spectrum.

While mass gatherings are banned for the foreseeable future and many citizens are rightly worried about exposing themselves to COVID-19, both Trump and Biden will need to put in their best effort while campaigning through the seven-month gap between now and election in November.