MoveOn Political Action, which backed Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential race, is conceding defeat to Hillary Clinton.
Following Clinton’s huge wins in California and three other states on Tuesday, the liberal group said she should be the party’s nominee because she will finish the contest with the most pledged delegates.
{mosads}“MoveOn members believe, as we have long advocated, that the nomination should go to the winner of the majority of pledged delegates, and that undemocratic superdelegates should not overturn the will of the voters,” said MoveOn Political Action executive director Ilya Sheyman.
In a statement Wednesday, the group praised Sanders for having “revolutionized politics as we know it” and drawing millions of voters into politics but said the presumptive Democratic nominee should be the one with a majority of pledged delegates.
Democracy for America similarly commended Sanders’s efforts to attract new voters and his push for votes in Washington, D.C., ahead of the district’s primary June 14 — the last Democratic contest — while acknowledging Sanders’s role in now moving to “help unite” the Democratic Party.
Democracy for America’s statement, however, did not go as far as MoveOn’s in suggesting it was the end for Sanders.
“As the primary campaign comes to a close, the very least the Democratic establishment can do, as it did for Hillary Clinton in 2008, is provide Bernie Sanders the time and the space he needs to determine the best steps he can take to help unite our party against Donald Trump in the days and weeks ahead,” Democracy for America chairman Jim Dean said in a statement Tuesday night as results rolled in.
Clinton also has the support of 571 superdelegates, pushing her past the necessary 2,383 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination.
Sanders vowed early Wednesday morning to continue on until the Democratic convention in late July despite Clinton declaring herself the party’s presumptive nominee.
Top Democratic holdouts have rallied around Clinton, whose campaign has said it is in talks with Sanders and hopes for an endorsement soon from President Obama, who is meeting with Sanders on Thursday.