Democratic senators who’ve long supported Hillary Clinton won’t call on her opponent to end his campaign, suggesting Bernie Sanders will likely make that decision “soon” without them intervening.
“Bernie should make the decision when he feels it is the right time and he will reach the right decision, I’m sure,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday afternoon.
Blumenthal was one of the earliest Senate Democrats to endorse Clinton. The Connecticut lawmaker has watched for more than a year as she’s battled his colleague, fending off Sanders’ attacks on her ties to Wall Street and support for multinational trade agreements.
Now that Clinton has secured more than enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination, Blumenthal claims the party can move toward unification — even if Sanders stands firm in his decision to remain in the race through next month.
“I think the Democratic Party will be united by the convention,” he said, refuting Sanders’ previous claims that Democrats are “headed to a contested convention.”
“I think he’s got to figure this out and I think giving him time is fine,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, an ardent Clinton supporter.
“It will all come together soon without any of us sticking our nose in it,” she added.
The Missouri Democrat said last month she understood why Sanders “wants to stay in this race,” suggesting he’s more focused disseminating a message than elevating his political power. McCaskill felt, however, that Sanders would gracefully bow out once it became mathematically impossible for him to surpass Clinton in pledged delegates.
“I’m just confident Bernie will be there when the time comes,” she told CBS.
The decision on behalf of Clinton’s Senate supporters to celebrate her becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee without urging Sanders to end his campaign mirrors statements made by Vice President Joe Biden.
“We should be a little graceful and let him decide on his own,” Biden, who endorsed neither Democratic candidate in the primary, told reporters after presiding over a joint session of Congress on Wednesday morning.
Sanders himself declined to take shots at Clinton during a speech late Tuesday night, and has reportedly begun axing a handful of campaign staffers. Still, the Vermont senator plans to continue on with a campaign rally Thursday evening in Washington, D.C.
