In a video address to supporters on Thursday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) pledged to help Democrats defeat Donald Trump, but he did not drop out of the race or offer an endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
“The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly. And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time,” Sanders said, according to Politico’s transcript of the speech.
Sanders also signaled that he still intends to have as much influence as possible on the Democratic platform at the party’s convention in July.
“But defeating Donald Trump cannot be our only goal. We must continue our grassroots efforts to create the America that we know we can become. And we must take that energy into the Democratic National Convention on July 25 in Philadelphia where we will have more than 1,900 delegates,” he said.
He mentioned his “positive discussion” with Clinton on Tuesday and said he plans on continuing to work with Clinton on the Democratic party platform.
“I look forward, in the coming weeks, to continued discussions between the two campaigns to make certain that your voices are heard and that the Democratic Party passes the most progressive platform in its history and that Democrats actually fight for that agenda,” Sanders said.
During his 23-minute speech, Sanders did not acknowledge that Clinton is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee or concede the race to her.
Despite Sanders’ apprehension to drop out of the race, his campaign is no longer actively courting superdelegates, his campaign manager told MSNBC on Thursday.
