In other parts of the exchange, Clinton discussed her excitement over becoming the first woman to secure the nomination of a major party, her efforts to rally Bernie Sanders and his supporters and her overarching views on Trump’s campaign. But Sanders has said he’ll press through until the last Democratic primary, in the District of Columbia on Tuesday. In fact, they’re pretty lukewarm about it.
Advertisement
As the votes were being counted in California, Mr Sanders said: “I am pretty good at arithmetic, and I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight, but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get”.
But either way, the Democratic party has been far from unanimously in favor of a Clinton presidency.
Ohio Sen Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, says he supported Clinton very early on and there is nothing Sanders can do or say to persuade him to switch.
Clinton’s fight against Donald Trump has already commenced, with pro-Clinton super PACs buying up inventory for attack ads against the Republican presumptive nominee.
Sanders was spending Wednesday at his home in Vermont but was scheduled to return to Washington on Thursday for a round of meetings with President Barack Obama and Minority Leader Harry Reid, a close friend of Sanders’ on Capitol Hill. The announcement drew ire from both the Clinton and Sanders campaigns.
Mr Sanders wants to keep his remarkable White House campaign alive in some form, by converting his new-found political currency into policies to change the Democratic Party, the Senate or even the country itself, on issues including income inequality and campaign finance reform. After the story was published, several reporters received threatening calls, emails and posts on social media from people identifying themselves as Sanders supporters.
Many Sanders supporters expressed anger that the AP had used superdelegates in their tally when they declared Clinton victorious Monday. “Sanders I’m sure will be entertaining those thoughts”.
On Tuesday night, Clinton urged people, “whether you’re a Democrat, Republican or Independent”, to join the party when they “meet in Philadelphia which gave birth to our nation back in that hot summer of 1776”. Clinton herself said she would use the days ahead “to fully absorb the history we’ve made”.
Advertisement
An endorsement of Clinton could come within a week or two, one of the sources said.
