Democratic Primaries

What happened in 2016 will happen again in 2020. Democratic candidates for President don't just fund-raise for themselves, they also fund-raise money for down-ticket races on both the state and the county level. Senator Sanders refused to do this last time, probably because he has no loyalty to the party as a whole. Instead he fund-raised only for the few select candidates that met his own draconian standards of purity, most of whom were in safe districts as they challenged other Democrats rather than Republicans. The numbers show that his endorsements and those of his PACs didn't gain a single seat for the Democratic party in 2018. Anyway, the money raised by the candidates can only be released by the nominee, or the presumptive nominee if every other candidate withdraws. In other words, if Senator Sanders withdraws now, that money can be used for the general election at all levels now. Or he stays in, and he makes the work of trying to win the Senate and keeping the House more difficult than it needs to be.

As the states hold their primaries, their candidates for the House, for the Senate, and for the State Congresses, as well as Governorships, are determined, and they could start hitting the Republican party where it hurts. However, if Senator Sanders cannot put his ego (as well as his disdain of the Democratic Party) aside, he'll make their job harder because their finances will be limited. He obviously doesn't think that is a consideration given that he refuses to raise money for down-ticket races, but any loyal Democrat cannot but understand how egregious such behavior would be.