Facing Likely Defeat, Bernie Sanders' Campaign Found A New Cause [View all]

After Bernie Sanders suffered three straight weeks of big losses across the country, the Vermont Senator returned home to "assess his campaign."

It appeared, in that moment, that Sanders' campaign was all but over. He trailed former Vice President Joe Biden by about 300 delegates and was facing calls to drop out. The conventional wisdom in political circles was that Biden would effectively wrap up the nomination by the end of March.

But the coronavirus outbreak has largely put the presidential race on hold, with most upcoming primaries postponed and all in-person campaigning cancelled. The immediate political focus has shifted to stopping the pandemic and offering financial relief to struggling Americans. And in this moment, Sanders voice and vision seem to have had a resurgence.

His allies and supporters are convinced that, as the crisis has unfolded and the country suffers from record unemployment, the issues that the Vermont senator has long touted, like income inequality and "Medicare for All," will force the country to have a reckoning about its financial and healthcare systems. In other words, they're convinced the crisis is resuscitating Sanders' agenda.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/29/822749003/facing-likely-defeat-bernie-sanders-campaign-found-a-new-cause