Bernie Sanders’s lone Senate supporter says the Democratic White House hopeful should focus on the popular vote and pledged delegates in his quest for the nomination.
{mosads}“When a nominee wins a majority of both these categories, it is time for us to come together, link arms and go forward,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) told The Washington Post.
Merkley said if Sanders loses to front-runner Hillary Clinton in the popular vote and pledged delegates, he should concede instead of trying to win over superdelegates at the Democratic National Convention.
“It would be inconsistent, given the commentary on superdelegates, to depend on superdelegates to turn over those first two categories of evaluating party members’ support.”
Sanders on Tuesday promised to take his fight to the convention, saying he will no rest until “the last ballot is cast” in the Washington, D.C., Democratic presidential primary on June 14.
“We have the possibility, it will be a steep climb, but we have a possibility of going to Philadelphia with a majority of pledged delegates,” he told listeners during a campaign rally in Carson, Calif.
“Now, some people say we’ve got a steep hill to climb and that’s absolutely true. But together we’ve been climbing that steep hill from day one in this campaign and we’ll continue to fight for every last vote until June 14, and then we’ll take our fight into the convention.”
Clinton leads Sanders among delegates, 2,293 to 1,533, which includes the unbound superdelegates who vote at the July convention — less than 100 away from the number needed to avoid a contested convention.
Her total includes 1,768 pledged delegates and 525 superdelegates, compared with Sanders’s 1,494 pledged delegates and 39 superdelegates.