Bernie Sanders Assessing Campaign: It Is a ‘Very Steep Road’ to Nomination

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said in an interview with NPR this week that he is still reassessing his campaign and admitted that it is a “very steep road” to the Democrat nomination.

“It’s changing every day because elections are being delayed,” Sanders told Morning Edition‘s Noel King.

“Where do we go from here with the elections that are being delayed, where we can’t go out and hold rallies or knock on doors? That’s what we’re looking at right now,” he continued.

Following Sanders’ string of losses in the March primaries, his campaign signaled that it was reassessing, but the coronavirus outbreak quickly unfolded, causing him to switch gears. As a result, Sanders essentially paused his go-to campaign talking points and stump speeches to focus on the pandemic, holding several virtual town halls on the subject. However, he has used the crisis to push one of his hallmark campaign issues: Medicare for All.

He told King:

I think there is growing sentiment in this country that people now understand that it is incomprehensible that we remain the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all, that we have an economy which leaves half of our people…living paycheck to paycheck.

Still, Sanders showed no signs of immediate departure from the race, telling King that, unlike his opponent Joe Biden (D), he sees immense value in holding further debates.

“I think the American people, especially in this unprecedented moment in American history, want to hear the ideas that will lead us away from where we are right now,” Sanders said.

“These are enormously important issues and we need serious debates over them,” he added.

The former vice president holds a stark edge in delegate totals: 1,217 to Sanders’ 914.

Sanders admitted, though, that “it’s going to be a very steep road” to secure the nomination.