Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders officially endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday, just days after the progressive flag bearer called it quits and ended his own campaign last Wednesday.
“We must come together to defeat the most dangerous president in modern history,” Sanders wrote in a post on Twitter announcing the endorsement.
We must come together to defeat the most dangerous president in modern history. I'm joining @JoeBiden's livestream with a special announcement. https://t.co/AC3zh3ChX3
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 13, 2020
The Vermont senator was Biden’s final major competitor on the road to the Democratic nomination after the rest of the field bowed out following devastating losses on Super Tuesday. Sanders remained in the race after capturing several key states in the nationwide contests, including the grand prize of California though Biden still took a substantial number of delegates in the west coast contest.
Sanders fared no better however, as the primary continued in a head-to-head match-up between the socialist senator and the former vice president framed as a pragmatic moderate. Though in reality, it was a race between left versus more left.
Sanders only captured first place in one of the nine contests that followed before dropping out last week, carrying North Dakota which is tied with Wyoming for the primary’s smallest pot of delegates. Biden still took six of the state’s 14 delegates while Sanders claimed eight.
The endorsement likely comes as welcome relief to the Biden campaign, who was anxious that the party remained divided with Sanders supporters refusing to back the nominee. Sanders did not endorse former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for months after bowing out.
Former President Barack Obama has still yet to endorse his former vice president in the race this year.
The global pandemic over the Wuhan coronavirus sweeping across the United States in March fundamentally altered the dynamics of the campaigns, forcing each to court voters nationwide digitally from their own homes in Vermont and Delaware. The epidemic has now set up the 2020 election to become a digital version of early 20th century campaigns where candidates would seek the nation’s highest office from their own front-porch if existing guidelines prohibiting large gatherings continue to persist through the rest of the year.
