Bernie Sanders Endorses Joe Biden for President

By Gene Maddaus

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden for president in a livestream conversation between the two Democratic rivals on Monday.

“We’ve got to make Trump a one-term president, and we need you in the White House,” Sanders said. “I will do all that I can to see that that happens, Joe… It’s imperative that all of us work together to do what has to be done.”

The two candidates also talked about the minimum wage, and oversight of the coronavirus emergency loan program, among other issues.

Sanders suspended his campaign last week, telling supporters he saw no path to victory.

Sanders also was the runner-up for the Democratic nomination in 2016, and endorsed and campaigned for Hillary Clinton. It remains to be seen whether his supporters will follow Sanders’ lead again and rally around Biden, who has forcefully rejected “Medicare for All.”

“We are apart on some issues, but we’re awfully close on a whole bunch of others,” Biden told Sanders on the livestream. “If I am the nominee — which it looks like now you just made me — I’m going to need you, not just to campaign, but to govern.”

Sanders won the early states of New Hampshire and Nevada, and finished in a virtual tie with Pete Buttigieg in Iowa. But Biden — who had finished fourth and fifth in the first two states — staged a stunning comeback in South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states.

In March, Biden built an insurmountable lead in the delegate count, even as several states postponed their primaries due to the coronavirus outbreak. After much legal wrangling, Wisconsin held its primary last Tuesday. The results are due to be released later on Monday.