Bernie Sanders is “disappointed” with the Associated Press’ decision on Monday to project Hillary Clinton as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee based on anonymous superdelegates’ preferences, a day before California voted.
Sanders told NBC News he was worried that the AP’s announcement could suppress California voter turnout.
“Well, what I was upset [with] is what the AP did. They got on the phone, as I understand it, and they started hounding superdelegates to tell them in an anonymous way who they’d be voting for,” Sanders told NBC. “And the night before the largest primary, biggest primary in the whole process, they make this announcement. So I was really disappointed in what the AP did.”
When asked whether he would decide to get out if Clinton emerged the clear winner among pledged delegates after Tuesday’s results, Sanders punted.
“The decision is I’m going to do everything I can to fight for the working class in this country,” Sanders countered.
The Vermont senator insisted his presidential campaign was working the phones to flip the superdelegates into his column and pull off a historic upset at this summer’s GOP convention.
As California voters cast their ballots on Tuesday, Sanders’ campaign sent out emails to Washington, D.C., residents asking them to “commit to vote for Bernie” in next week’s presidential primary. Regardless of whether Clinton emerges victorious on Tuesday night, Sanders’ team is looking forward to a potential contested convention in Philadelphia.
