Sanders to lay off hundreds of campaign staffers

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is laying off campaign staffers following more primary losses this week to front-runner Hillary Clinton, according to multiple reports.

{mosads}The campaign pushed back against against the idea that the cuts came as an acknowledgement that the Vermont senator’s chances of securing the nomination are shrinking.

“We want to win as many delegates as we can, so we do not need workers now in states around country,” Sanders told The New York Times. “We don’t need people right now in Connecticut. That election is over. We don’t need them in Maryland. So what we are going to do is allocate our resources to the 14 contests that remain, and that means that we are going to be cutting back on staff.”

Sanders declined to say exactly how many staffers would be let go but gave some clues as to the scale of the cuts.

“It will be hundreds of staff members,” he said. “We have had a very large staff, which was designed to deal with 50 states in this country; 40 of the states are now behind us. So we have had a great staff, great people.”

Sanders added that the staffers would be rehired if he is able to win the nomination.

He has vowed to keep campaigning until the Democratic National Convention at the end of July.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Sanders campaign said it is still looking ahead to Indiana and beyond.

“Our campaign has now completed 80 percent of the primaries and caucuses. We look forward to winning here in Indiana next Tuesday and in the few remaining states and territories holding primaries and caucuses in May and June,” the statement read. “That means that we no longer require many of the loyal and dedicated state and national support staffers who helped us in places like New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and other states where the nominating contests have been completed.”

The statement said that the Sanders camp still has about 300 staffers and plans to “marshal our resources” to win states like California and the nomination.