Sen. Beie Sanders says he’ll reveal to supporters Thursday what’s next for his Democratic presidential campaign, with the party’s primary season coming to an end and Hillary Clinton already the presumptive presidential nominee.
The Vermont senator is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Clinton after the polls close in the Washington, D.C., contest, marking the official end of the Democratic primary season.
He consistently has maintained he’s taking his fight to the convention, but said in an email to supporters Tuesday he’ll reveal his plans for the future on Thursday via a live, online video address.
“Sisters and Brothers,” he said in the message, “I want to talk to you directly on Thursday night about what’s next for our campaign.”
While the conversation with Clinton could have a significant impact on what Sanders does next, he has given every indication he intends to keep his campaign alive in some form through the party’s nomination convention in July.
“After today, the voting is done, but our political revolution continues,” Sanders also said in the email.
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Sanders has 1,877 total delegates compared to 2,784 for Clinton, who last week surpassed the 2,383-delegate threshold to clinch the nomination.
As his longshot bid faded in the closing weeks of the race, Sanders argued that Clinton reached the threshold by relying on superdelegates -- party members who pledge their support for a candidate. Sanders has said he wants to persuade them to switch their support to him, while admitting facing an “uphill battle.”
The Sanders campaign has suggested the candidate could end his campaign if Clinton and the rest of the Democratic Party embrace key parts of his agenda -- including better universal health care, a $15-an-hour minimum wage and free tuition at state colleges and universities.
“I think the time is now. In fact, the time is overdue, for a fundamental transformation of the Democratic Party,” Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, said Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “We need a party which is prepared to stand up for the disappearing middle class.”
Sanders is facing increasing pressure to end his campaign to create party unity in the general election race against presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
On Sunday, Sanders told ABC News that the meeting with Clinton will be about “what kind of platform we have and … what kind of administration she will have.”
Later that day, Sanders, who trails Clinton by more than 500 superdelegates, told reporters in Vermont: “We're taking our campaign to the convention. We're good at arithmetic.”
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.”