Tyler Kavalecz

     On April 8, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign and dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary, all but ensuring that former Vice President Joe Biden will be the Democratic presidential candidate.

     Through the first three states that voted in the primary, Sanders was the front-runner after winning in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. At that point Sanders led in delegates with 45, while Biden was in third with 15 delegates, according to the AP.

     Biden stopped Sanders’ momentum in the turning point of the primary on February 29. Biden secured his first win of the primary in South Carolina and closed in on Sanders in delegates with Sanders standing at 60 and Biden jumping up to 54 delegates, according to the AP.

     Biden became the new front runner in the primary on the first, and biggest, Super Tuesday on March 3. Biden won 10 of the 15 states and territories that voted on March 3. 

     After Super Tuesday, Biden stood at 702 delegates, leading Sanders who was at 618 delegates, according to the AP.

     Biden had full momentum after Super Tuesday and never gave up the delegate lead. When Sanders dropped out of the primary on April 8, Biden had 1,217 delegates, while Sanders was trailing with 914, according to the AP.

     Sanders announced he was suspending his campaign and therefore dropping out of the Democratic presidential primary in a live-streamed speech on Twitter.

     “I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour,” Sanders said in his live-streamed speech.

     Although he dropped out of the primary and would not be a presidential candidate, Sanders added that his movement is not ending.

     “While this campaign is coming to an end, our movement is not,” Sanders said in his live-streamed speech.

     On top of stating that his path to victory was virtually impossible because of the delegate lead that Biden had built up, Sanders also congratulated Biden.

     Sanders called Biden “a very decent man who I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward,” in his live-streamed speech.

     Sanders also called for Democrats to stand together to help defeat President Trump.

     “Then together, standing united we will go forward to defeat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in modern American history,” Sanders said.

     Although Sanders has officially dropped out of the primary, he will stay on the ballot in the states with upcoming primaries to try to amass more delegates in order to influence the party’s platform at the Democratic convention, which is currently scheduled to take place in August.

     Shortly after Sanders’ live-streamed speech, Biden stated that he would reach out to the Vermont senator and welcomed Sanders followers to join him. Biden said that he would continue dialogue with Sanders and his supporters to move forward on policy goals.

     Biden also acknowledged that Sanders has changed the dialogue and created a movement in America.

     With Sanders dropping out of the race, it all but ensures that Biden will be the Democratic presidential nominee that will face President Trump come the national presidential election later this year.

     Although Biden will not officially become the Democratic presidential nominee until he reaches 1,991 delegates, which is just over half of the total number of delegates that get awarded to candidates throughout the primary.

     On April 13, Bernie Sanders announced on Joe Biden’s twitter live-stream that he would be endorsing Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president.