Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) praised Bernie Sanders after meeting with him Thursday and predicted he would help unify the Democratic Party ahead of the general election.
“We had a good visit. I feel I’m in a good place with Bernie. I feel Bernie’s in a good place with the caucus, and I feel he’s in a good place with the country,” he added.
{mosads}Reid also invited Sanders to speak to the Senate Democratic caucus next Tuesday about the way forward.
Democrats are quickly turning to the general election and further uniting behind presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton even as Sanders decides what to do next.
President Obama endorsed Clinton in a video on her campaign website. It was released just an hour after Obama met with Sanders in the White House.
Sanders has yet to concede the Democratic primary to Clinton. She leads him in pledged delegates and overall votes.
Reid said he was not pushing Sanders to drop out of the presidential primary now that Hillary Clinton has clinched the delegates she needs to win the nomination, according to an Associated Press survey.
“I told him that I was not pushing for anything,” Reid told reporters.
He said he does not think the Vermont senator is holding out for anything.
“I think he is somebody who is interested in changing the direction of the country. I think he’s done that in this historic election,” he said, predicting Sanders would have a role in coming up with a party platform and reforming the rules for future primaries at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Reid predicted that Sanders would come to the caucus meeting next week and campaign for Senate Democratic candidates in the fall.
Asked whether Sanders would be invited to join the Democratic leadership, Reid said, “I don’t have much to say about that but of course he has a lot of stature here.”
Reid will retire at the end of next year, and Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.) is expected to take over as Senate Democratic leader.
“He is well-liked in the caucus and he will continue to be well-liked in the caucus,” Reid added of Sanders, who was joined by his wife Jane on Thursday’s visit to the Capitol.
Reid declined to say after the press conference whether Sanders expressed any desire for specific reforms from the platform and rules committees at the convention.
After meeting with Reid in his leadership office, Sanders walked over to Schumer’s hideaway to discuss strategies for keeping his supporters engaged in the general election.
Schumer praised Sanders effusively afterward.
“It was a great meeting, very, very constructive. I’ve always had great friendship and affection for Bernie and if anything it’s stronger,” Schumer said in a statement to reporters.
Sanders emphasized to Schumer, the Senate Democrats’ chief messaging strategist, that the party needs to keep at the forefront issues important to his supporters, such as climate change and campaign finance reform.
“He wants to make sure that the issues he’s pushed for have vitality and help us get those things enacted,” Schumer said. “He cares a lot about the Senate majority becoming Democratic but he also cares about keeping his people engaged and the way to do that is on issues.”
He predicted Sanders “will be constructive throughout” the fall’s general-election campaign “because he realizes the importance of moving the country forward and actually attaining the kind of issues that he’s talked about.”