Bernie Sanders ends US presidential bid

Senator Bernie Sanders has ended his US presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the likely Democratic Party nominee to take on Donald Trump in November.

Today I am suspending my campaign. But while the campaign ends, the struggle for justice continues on. https://t.co/MYc7kt2b16

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 8, 2020

Sanders used strong polling and solid fundraising — collected almost entirely from small donations made online — to move forward. And he amassed the most votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, which opened primary voting, and cruised to an easy victory in Nevada — seemingly leaving him well positioned to sprint to the Democratic nomination while a deeply crowded and divided field of alternatives sunk around him.

Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, had appeared on the brink of collapse after New Hampshire; but it found new life as the rest of the party’s establishment candidates coalesced around him as an alternative to Sanders. A crucial endorsement of Biden by influential South Carolina Representative Jim Clyburn, and a subsequent, larger-than-expected victory in South Carolina, propelled the former vice president into Super Tuesday, when he won 10 of 14 states. In a matter of days, his top former establishment rivals had lined up behind him with their endorsements.

Featured image via Gage Skidmore