Bernie Sanders announced his decision to suspend his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. The announcement Wednesday leaves a clear path for former Vice President Joe Biden to become the Democrat's choice to challenge President Trump in the fall, and it's an acknowledgment that Biden is too far ahead for Sanders to have any reasonable hope of catching up.
Sanders had been the frontrunner in the race after victories in Nevada and New Hampshire. However, Biden's huge win in South Carolina changed the race. Still, Sanders took weeks to make the decision to drop out even though his path to victory was very narrow.
In a live video on social media Sanders noted that not everyone in the Democratic Party agrees with his decision. Among those people are members of the Progressive Democrats of America organization.
In a statement released just yesterday the PDA wrote, "We understand that many Democrats are calling for Bernie to drop out. They say that Joe Biden is so far ahead that the time has come for party unity, for focusing on Donald Trump. While we agree about the necessity of defeating Donald Trump, we arrive at the opposite conclusion: The Democratic Party, and all Americans, will benefit from Bernie continuing his campaign in this historic moment."
Sanders said of the campaign and his chances for overtaking Biden in the delegate count, "...it's just not there."