Reid: No path to nomination for Sanders
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that Bernie Sanders can’t win the Democratic presidential nomination, but stopped short of saying the Vermont senator should drop out of the race.
“Bernie is a good person. He’s run a campaign that … has been unique and powerful. I think Bernie should do what he wants to do,” Reid told reporters when asked if he is concerned about Sanders staying in the race until the Democratic National Convention in July.
{mosads}Pressed on if he believes Sanders has a path to the nomination, Reid added, “No, I do not.”
His comments come as Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton compete for delegates and superdelegates. Clinton currently has 1,428 delegates to Sanders’s 1,153, according to The Associated Press.
The two are battling in primaries in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island on Tuesday. A strong performance by Clinton won’t mathematically shut out Sanders, but it could help her campaign turn its focus toward the general election.
While Reid said he doesn’t think Sanders can win the nomination, he sidestepped on whether the Vermont senator should start focusing his campaign on “unity.”
“Bernie is going to do what he feels is appropriate,” Reid said.
Leadership has been careful to not directly attack Sanders, even though most of the Senate Democratic caucus backs Clinton.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), expected to be the next Democratic leader, added Tuesday that he doesn’t “have a bad word to say about Bernie.”
“I think Bernie has been extremely constructive. I think he cares about moving the nation in an important direction,” Schumer added. “He’s a constructive guy.”
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