Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has endorsed rival Hillary Clinton to be the next president of the United States, conceding defeat in the party’s primary election after a bruising 14-month campaign.
The announcement by the Vermont senator in New Hampshire, a state that delivered one of his biggest wins in the party’s nominating process, paves the way for Mrs Clinton to be formally named the Democratic nominee without opposition at the party’s national convention in Philadelphia on July 25th.
“Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process,” said Mr Sanders, to cheers and sustained applause, with Mrs Clinton standing next to him at her campaign rally in Portsmouth. “And I congratulate her for that.”
His endorsement came more than a month after Mrs Clinton secured enough delegates to be able to claim victory in the Democratic primary, a delay that surprised many given her decisive convention delegate count.
“She will be the Democratic nominee for president and I intend to do everything I can to make certain that she will be the next president of the United States,” said the self-professed democratic socialist whom Mrs Clinton struggled to defeat during his populist campaign that fired up progressives.
‘Stronger Together’
“I have come here to make it as clear as possible as to why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton and why she must become our next president,” Mr Sanders said at the joint campaign event in front of a podium emblazoned with Mrs Clinton’s election slogan, ‘Stronger Together’.
He listed off Mrs Clinton’s plans to help the lower-paid, to create millions of jobs and to expand government healthcare, contrasting her policies against those the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Mr Sanders said that he had the opportunity to speak to more than 1.4 million Americans at his rallies and he found that the campaign was “not really about Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders or any other candidate who sought the presidency.
“This campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face and there is no doubt in my mind that as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that,” he said.
His support for his one-time rival, whom he described during the hard-fought primary as not being qualified for the presidency, comes after he secured concessions from her campaign and the Democratic Party on healthcare, increases in the minimum wage and college education.
The independent senator, who votes with Democrats, claimed a victory of sorts, telling supporters that at the Democratic committee that sets the party platform last weekend the two campaigns had come together and “produced by far the most progressive platform” in the party’s history.
The job now was “to see that platform implemented by a Democratically controlled Senate, a Democratically-controlled House and a Hillary Clinton presidency,” he said.
Outstanding president
Appearing to suggest that he intended to campaign heavily in the coming four-month general election campaign, Mr Sanders said that he intended to be “in every corner of this country to make sure that happens.”
“Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her today,” said the socialist, concluding his remarks with a hug for the woman he had once accused of being beholden to big corporate interests.
Mrs Clinton’s challenge now is to unite the party after a brutal primary and win over the more than 13 million voters who backed her rival on a staunchly progressive manifesto of polices, including millions of young Democrats and independents who voted for him in such large numbers.
Reflecting the task facing Mrs Clinton, a number of Sanders supporters left the school hall where the event was taking place as she started speaking.
