Bernie Sanders may not be quite ready to formally end his Democratic presidential bid, but he says he will vote for Hillary Clinton in November.
Speaking on MSNBC Friday morning, he was asked whether he planned to vote for Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the fall election.
“Yes. Yeah, I think the issue right here is, I’m going to do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump,” the Vermont senator said. “I think Trump, in so many ways, will be a disaster for this country if he were to be elected president.”
JUST IN: @BernieSanders says “yes,” he will vote for @HillaryClinton in Novemberhttps://t.co/6FT0ZLi0JG
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 24, 2016
Sanders said he didn’t want to “parse words right now” when asked whether his vote would be for Clinton or against Trump.
“What I am trying to do right now is to make sure that the Democratic Party becomes a party that represents working people, not Wall Street, that is prepared to have an agenda that speaks to the need of creating millions of jobs, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour, dealing with climate change, dealing with pay equity,” he said.
Sanders said he’s “pretty good in arithmetic” and knows Clinton has more delegates. But he noted he’s bringing 1,900 delegates into the Democratic National Convention. He said his goal is to reinvigorate the party, bring in “new blood” and have a party that represents working people.
Sanders was asked why he shouldn’t withdraw from the race, given that he’s accepted that Clinton will be the nominee.
“Why would I want to do that when I want to fight to make sure that we have the best platform that we possibly can, that we win the most delegates that we can and that we transform — the goal of our campaign was to transform this nation,” he said.
Sanders also rejected the idea that his remaining in the race is causing disunity in the Democratic Party.
“Look, you talk about disunity, I talk about involving the American people in the political process and wanting to have a government and a party that represents all of us,” he said.
In a separate interview on CNN, Sanders said he did not know whether he would appear with Clinton at a formal endorsement ceremony in the near future. “We’ll see what happens,” he said.
The Vermont senator also told CNN his campaign brought “a whole lot of new people” into politics, and he wants to keep together to push for issues like tuition-free college, an increase in minimum and a climate change plan.
“I am going to be very active in this campaign,” Sanders said.
As recently as Thursday, Sanders declined an opportunity to endorse Clinton when asked, during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, whether he was prepared to do so that evening. Speaking to supporters in New York the same day, he vowed to press on with his campaign.
“Our goal from day one has been transform this nation,” he said. “And that is the fight we are going to continue.”
During Friday’s Morning Joe interview, Sanders indicated his focus going forward was to ensure Trump is defeated and to help shape the Democratic platform that will be adopted at the party’s July convention in Philadelphia.
Blasting the presumptive GOP nominee’s past remarks on Hispanics, women and Muslims, Sanders said: “This is not somebody who should become president,” adding that his “job right now is to fight for the strongest possible platform in the Democratic convention.”
In another interview earlier this week, Sanders seemed to concede that his own hopes of capturing the Democratic nomination were dashed. Speaking with C-SPAN, Sanders described ongoing talks with Clinton’s team and acknowledged that “it doesn’t appear” he would be the Democratic presidential nominee.
By Cooper Allen and Nicole Gaudiano, USA Today