In virtually identical statements released after meeting for more than 90 minutes, the Clinton and Sanders campaigns said the two rivals discussed their primary campaign, “unifying the party and… the risky threat that Donald Trump poses to our nation”.
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Hillary Clinton will win the last contest of the Democratic primary season, according to a CNN projection, eclipsing Bernie Sanders in the little-noticed election in the District of Columbia.
“Sanders congratulated Secretary Clinton on the campaign she has run and said he appreciated her strong commitment to stopping Trump in the general election”, the statement added.
Last week he met President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, who both later endorsed Mrs Clinton.
Even though the D.C. primary marked the official end of voting in the long race, it still wasn’t clear what Sanders planned to do next.
Sanders hasn’t been willing to do that so far, but the two candidates are scheduled for their first private meeting of the campaign Tuesday night. Sanders has said he wants to persuade them to switch their support to him, while admitting facing an “uphill battle”.
During his news conference, Sanders ticked off several policy priorities and political changes he would like to see, including new leadership at the Democratic National Committee, which he said has not focused enough on bringing new voters into the party.
Clinton already has turned her attention on the campaign trail to the race with Trump, rejecting the NY businessman’s renewed calls for a ban of the entry of foreign-born Muslims into the United States after the mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, by an American man who claimed allegiance with Islamic State militants.
Sanders needs to tell his supporters that Clinton is not the lesser of two evils, but rather a competent politician who deserves to defeat Trump.
Winning the Washington DC primary with 79 per cent of the vote, Mrs Clinton emerges from the primary with a total of 2,800 convention delegates, comprising 2,219 pledged delegates and 581 super-delegates – well in excess of the 2,383 delegates she required to secure the nomination.
Sanders drew a standing ovation when he went into a lunch meeting with fellow Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon.
Sanders will address supporters Thursday on a teleconference, during which he’s expected to discuss his future.
Rival Bernie Sanders, however, had vowed to fight until the last ballots were cast, though he has backed off pledges to contest the nomination at the party convention next month in Philadelphia.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to speak at a rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Circuit Center in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, June 14, 2016.
From my perspective, it matters what we do, not just what we say.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen.
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Sanders told ABC that he wants Clinton to also specifically commit to a progressive tax system that makes big banks and corporations pay “their fair share of taxes”. “But I will not demonize and declare war on an entire religion”.
