A spokesman for Bernie Sanders has said the Vermont senator plans to continue his Democratic presidential campaign and will not drop out “today, or tomorrow, or the next day.”
“He has said that he plans to stay in this through the Democratic convention,” Michael Briggs said, according to Bloomberg News, on the day of the final Democratic primary, in Washington, D.C.
The Sanders campaign is going full steam ahead until the party’s national convention in Philadelphia, which begins July 25, when 714 unpledged delegates, known as superdelegates, will cast their votes.
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Unlike reports in the mainstream media claim, the votes of superdelegates are not set in stone.
Sanders believes that many of the superdelegates can be convinced to support him between now and the convention, and there are reports some have already flipped.
Sanders gave an impromptu press conference outside his Washington campaign headquarters today and called for “fundamental transformation” in the Democrat party that would include new leadership at the Democratic National Committee, electoral reform and a progressive agenda that makes it “crystal clear” Democrats stand with working people and the poor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-7g8VNK68
“I do believe that we have to replace the current Democratic National Committee leadership,” he said outside his campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“We need a person at the leadership of the DNC who is vigorously supporting and out working to bring people into the political process.”
The bulk of the press conference served as a preview of the Democrat party rules changes he’ll push for at the convention in late July.
“We need major, major changes in the Democratic Party in converting it to a party of the people — welcoming working people and welcoming young people,” Sanders said.
“We need an electoral process which is worthy of the Democrats.”
He called for same-day voter registration, an increase in staffing at precincts, a guarantee of open primaries and an end to the party’s use of superdelegates.
The first two electoral reforms would likely be easy sells — the party has no direct control over either, so its platform planks would only serve as a statement in support of those policies. But the other two will be more difficult, as they cede power from both the party establishment and its voters.
“We also need, obviously, to get rid of superdelegates. The fact that we had, in this case, 400 superdelegates pledged to a candidate some eight months before the first ballot was cast was, in my mind, absurd,” Sanders said.
