Despite lengthening odds of winning the Democratic presidential nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday said he has no plans to exit the race before all 50 states have held their nominating contests.
“We’re going to give the people in every state in this country the right to determine who they want to be the president of the U.S. [and] what kind of agenda they want,” Sanders told CNN’s Jake Tapper when asked about recent comments made by President Obama’s 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe.
Plouffe suggested that Sanders has “zero chance” of winning the nomination during a podcast last Thursday.
“David Plouffe is working for Hillary Clinton,” Sanders told Tapper.
Sanders said he rejected the idea that “we should not vigorously contest this election when the largest state in the United States has not voted … California has not yet voted.”
Sanders conceded that his path to the nomination is isn’t “easy,” but added that he thinks his campaign still has a chance.
“Polls seem to be showing in many of the states yet to come [that] we have a real shot to win,” the Vermont senator said. “And I think also there are a lot of delegates out there who are looking at the general matchup and what they’re seeing in polls is that Bernie Sanders is running a lot stronger against [Donald] Trump than is Hillary Clinton.”
“I think we do have a path to victory,” Sanders added. “I think we’ve come a long way and we’re going to fight for every last vote until California and the D.C. primary.”
Sanders has 275 less pledged delegates than Clinton. He trails the former secretary of state by 475 superdelegates. He and Clinton will face off again on Tuesday, April 27 when five states are set to hold their primaries.
