BURLINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders vowed to continue his presidential campaign at a Wednesday press conference in Burlington despite losses to former Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday night.
Sanders won North Dakota and holds a slight lead in Washington but lost to Biden in Michigan, Idaho, Mississippi and Missouri. Biden currently has 858 delegates to Sanders’ 709, according to Politico.
“Last night, obviously, was not a good night for our campaign from a delegate point of view,” Sanders said.
Sanders spoke for just under 10 minutes during the press conference at Hotel Vermont, and did not take questions from the group of tightly packed reporters.
Biden defeated Sanders in Michigan with 53% of the vote to 37% for Sanders, dealing a blow to Sanders in a state Sanders won narrowly over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Michigan was the largest state that voted Tuesday.
The trajectory of the campaign has shifted dramatically in the past week-and-a-half, as Biden has quickly moved into frontrunner position after winning South Carolina and receiving endorsements from former rivals Sen. Amy Klobucher and former mayor Pete Buttigeig.
Sanders had won the popular vote in the first three states to vote, Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, but has since struggled as party moderates coalesced around Biden.
Despite being behind in the delegate count, Sanders said Wednesday his campaign was winning the ideological and generational debates in the primary.
“Poll after poll, including exit polls, shows that a strong majority of the American people support our progressive agenda,” he said.
Sanders said that polls show nationwide support for increasing the federal minimum wage, ensuring large corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, making college tuition free and fighting climate change. He said there is also wide support for reforming the nation’s health care and criminal justice systems.
Sanders also highlighted his support with younger voters.
“Today, I say to the Democratic establishment, in order to win in the future, you need to win the voters who represent the future of our country, and you must speak to the issues of concern to them,” he said.
Super Tuesday exit polls show Sanders winning younger voters by large margins, with 60% of voters under 30 supporting Sanders to 17% for Biden, according to the Washington Post. But Biden beat Sanders comfortably with older voters, with 50% of voters over 65 supporting him to only 15% for Sanders.
But a much smaller percentage of young citizens vote, and Sanders said last week that the campaign was not as successful as he had hoped in turning out younger voters. Only about 1 in 8 voters in Super Tuesday states voted, according to the Post.
All over the country, Sanders said his campaign has heard from voters who say they support his positions on the issue but are voting for Biden because they believe that Biden is better positioned to beat President Donald Trump.
“Needless to say, I strongly disagree with that assertion, but that is what millions of Democrats and independents today believe,” he said.
Sanders said he was looking forward to his debate with Biden on Sunday in Arizona. It is the first one-on-one debate between the candidates.
Sanders said he was planning on asking Biden pointed questions about health care, climate, higher education costs, high levels of incarceration, immigration, childhood poverty, homelessness and wealth inequality.
Sanders said Trump must be defeated and he was planning on doing everything he could to make sure that happens.
“On Sunday night, in the first one-on-one debate of this campaign, the American people will have the opportunity to see which candidate is best positioned to accomplish that goal,” he said.
