ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Bernie Sanders will speak directly to his supporters Thursday night in an online live video address organized by his campaign.
While the senator is not expected to formally bow out of the race or endorse his primary rival Hilary Clinton just yet, he will likely acknowledge, perhaps just subtly, that his campaign is no longer focused on securing the Democratic nomination. Instead, Sanders hopes to keep his fans engaged beyond this election — exactly how, or engaged in what, remain the million dollar questions.
In the last week since the California primary, Sanders has dramatically shifted his tone. He is no longer talking about flipping party superdelegates or performing ahead of Clinton in general election polling. Instead, he has maintained he will stay in the race until the party convention in July in order to push his progressive platform and advocate for procedural changes within Democratic Party, including banning superdelegates and instating same-day voter registration during primaries.
“We need at the Democratic National Convention, to approve a Progressive platform, the most Progressive platform ever passed by the Democratic Party,” Sanders said during a press conference Tuesday. “A platform which makes it crystal clear that the Democratic Party is in fact on the side of working people, is on the side of low income people, is on the side of people who have no health insurance.”
In an email to supporters sent Wednesday encouraging them to watch Thursday night’s live stream, campaign manager Jeff Weaver said, “Our political revolution is not just about what happens in Philadelphia, or even at the election in November.” Weaver said they would work to keep Donald Trump from being president, but added, “In order for the work that we have begun to be long-lasting for years to come, we must continue our political revolution.”
One way the campaign has sought to “continue” its revolution is by encouraging its fans to donate to a select group of progressive congressional and state level candidates around the country. In many of these fundraising emails, however, the Sanders campaign takes a 50 percent split of the donations along with the other candidate. Beyond maintaining its own small staff and providing some financial assistance to Sanders’ delegates attending the convention in Philadelphia, it is unclear at this point what else the ‘Bernie 2016’ campaign is fundraising for nor how long it can continue to do so.
The senator’s address Thursday night about his future comes at an interesting moment too as Democrats in the Senate successfully stole the national spotlight Wednesday night with a nearly 15-hour long filibuster about gun control. During the “talk-a-thon,” several celebrities and Democrats across the country took to social media to ask “#WhereIsSanders.”
Sanders is still a sitting Senator from Vermont, though it has been months since he has been present for votes.
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