Pressure Mounts for Elizabeth Warren to Drop Out as Joe Biden Gains Support: ‘#WarrenEndorseBernie’

COLUMBIA, SC - FEBRUARY 29: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Calls for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to drop out of the Democrat Primary race and endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are mounting as Pete Buttigieg (D) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) suspend their respective campaigns and move to endorse Joe Biden (D), the Democrat establishment’s original choice, as the party’s nominee.

Biden’s campaign benefited almost immediately from Buttigieg’s decision to drop out of the race, raising $1 million in the hours following the former South Bend mayor’s announcement on Sunday. Buttigieg is also expected to endorse Biden, and he is not the only one. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is expected to suspend her campaign on Monday evening and throw her weight behind the former vice president during his rally in Dallas, Texas.

The consolidation of support is concerning backers of Sanders, as the socialist, to the dismay of uneasy Democrat establishment figures, has remained the party’s frontrunner. Now that the party’s “moderates” seem to be coalescing around Biden, many progressives believe Warren needs to drop out to beef up Sanders’ support and negate Biden’s boost.

Many concerned Democrats hit social media to express their concerns, causing #WarrenEndorseBernie to trend:

One user wrote:

Warren supporters, I’m asking you to please come over & support Bernie. The centrists have come together & united under a candidate. It’s time we do the same. We share the same hopes & dreams for the working class. Together we will transform this country.

“PLEASE, drop out and endorse Bernie, you’re killing chances of a progressive win,” a self-described organizer begged.

Another user wrote:

Please for the love of god #WarrenEndorseBernie. I used to be a Warren supporter, and I am desperate for access to healthcare. Our lives are on the line and if you care about helping people and supporting the progressive movement, do the right thing.

“I don’t see how progressives will ever forgive @ewarren if she doesn’t drop out today,” one mused. “The stakes are just too high. #WarrenEndorseBernie.”

More:

Nevertheless, Warren has not displayed any signs of dropping out of the race. Her strategy is based on longevity, or “outlasting several of her less well-financed rivals and trying to collect their supporters when they drop out,” as Politico reported.

Warren’s campaign manager, Roger Lau, provided a glimpse into the campaign’s gameplan in a memo published on Sunday.

“We expect Elizabeth to have a strong delegate performance on Super Tuesday, and see the race narrowing considerably once all the votes are counted,” Lau wrote, citing internal projections which, Lau says “continue to show Elizabeth winning delegates in nearly every state in play on Super Tuesday, and in a strong position to earn a sizable delegate haul coming out of the night.”

“But as the dust settles after March 3, the reality of this race will be clear: no candidate will likely have a path to the majority of delegates needed to win an outright claim to the Democratic nomination,” he continued, previewing the campaign’s intention to stay in the race until the convention:

After Wisconsin nearly one-third of the pledged delegates will still be waiting to be elected, and there will be a three-week gap between electing delegates for the first time since voting began. In the road to the nomination, the Wisconsin primary is halftime, and the convention in Milwaukee is the final play.

“Our grassroots campaign is built to compete in every state and territory and ultimately prevail at the national convention in Milwaukee,” Lau added.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.