Sanders refuses to quit race, declines to endorse Clinton yet | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Bernie Sanders vowed Thursday night to work with rival Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump, but he refused to withdraw from the Democratic presidential race and did not endorse her.

In a 24-minute video message to supporters, the independent senator from Vermont said he would continue his “political revolution” to change the Democratic Party.

“Election days come and go,” he said. “But political and social revolutions that attempt to transform our society never end. They continue every day, every week and every month in the fight to create a nation of social and economic justice.”

Clinton won a majority of votes and majority of the delegates in the primary season that ended this week and is expected to be nominated at the Democratic convention in July in Philadelphia as the first woman chosen to lead a major party into the general election contest for the White House.

Since clinching the nomination, Clinton has earned the endorsements of many party leaders, including President Barack Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a favorite of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

Sanders did not say he would continue to fight Clinton for the nomination, as he said previously, but he did not endorse her either. Instead, he said he wanted to work with her to change the party and defeat Trump.

“I look forward in the coming weeks to continued discussions between the two campaigns to make certain that your voices are heard and that the Democratic Party passes the most progressive platform in its history and that Democrats actually fight for that agenda,” he said. “I also look forward to working with Secretary Clinton to transform the Democratic Party.”

Earlier, his aides said he would not fight to win over superdelegates, the party leaders unbound by their state’s results who cast their votes at the convention. But in his video statement he said he must take the campaign’s energy to the convention.

“This was Sanders’ last shot, and I think all of this ultimately contributes to a potentially slower reconciliation than we saw in 2008,” said Jeffrey Engel, director of the Southern Methodist University Center for Presidential History. “But ultimately it will be much ado about nothing. The two sides will reconcile, Sanders won’t blow up the convention.”

The 74-year-old self-described democratic socialist surprised most people, including himself, by tapping into anger brewing in the country to galvanize a new crop of voters as a champion of the underpaid, overworked American worker. In a year when Clinton was expected to walk away easily with the nomination, Sanders won 12 million votes and contests in 22 states.

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Sanders has a long list of agenda goals including the ouster of Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, overhauling a primary process that would make it easier for people to vote, an end to superdelegates and a liberal platform that urges help for middle- and lower-income people.

In his statement Thursday, Sanders continued his criticism of the party which he said has allowed “right-wing politicians” to win elections in some states with virtually no opposition and has shut the door on working and young people. He noted that the Republican Party now controls legislatures in 31 states and both the governors’ mansions and statehouses in 23 states. In addition, since 2009, about 900 legislative seats have been lost to Republicans. “That is unacceptable,” he said.

Sanders’ biggest test over the next few weeks will involve the Democratic Party platform committee. Its drafting committee held a series of hearings in Washington last week and plans another starting Friday in Phoenix. It plans to write the final document early next month.

After the final primary Tuesday, Sanders and Clinton met behind closed doors for more than 90 minutes about a variety of issues, including raising wages, eliminating undisclosed money in politics and reducing the cost of college for students. They agreed to work to defeat Trump, a businessman with no political experience who has alienated wide swathes of his own party with his brash comments.

“The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly,” Sanders said Thursday. “And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.”