Written by Devon Mitchell
It’s official! Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are the only two candidates trying for the democratic nomination for the 2020 election. This news came to us as of March 19th when Tulsi Gabbard, the Representative from Hawaii, officially suspended her campaign.
Over the past few weeks, candidates have been dropping like flies. Within five days candidates, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Bloomberg, and Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the race. All these candidates besides Warren have endorsed Biden soon after suspending their own campaigns. Interestingly enough, many of the former candidates have endorsed Biden since dropping out of the running. Former candidates such as Andrew Yang, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and more have signed onto the former Vice President. Biden Is getting overwhelming support from Democrats, and it’s paying off in the primaries.
To win the Democratic nomination a candidate must receive 1,991 delegates. Currently, Joe Biden has won 1,215 delegates while Bernie Sanders has only won 910. The race is close but not that close. Bernie is still about 300 delegates behind Biden. There are still about 24 primaries/caucuses that are to be held so it is possible for Bernie to pull ahead. Although, some polls still have Biden leading.
Now that we have the facts, here are my thoughts on Biden and Sanders. Those who know me know that I was a Pete supporter. When I voted in my state primaries in February I voted for Pete. Now that he is no longer in the running, I feel lost about where to lend my support. I have seen many Buttigieg and Klobuchar supporters immediately sign on to Biden just because the former candidates endorsed him. I have hesitations with Biden. I fear that put up against Trump, Biden would crumble. We’ve seen time and time again during debates Biden make a fool of himself against candidates who are far less ruthless than Trump. It’s hard to forget the time when Biden admitted running out of speaking time in an early debate. If this is the candidate the democrats want to put up against Trump in November then he’ll have my support. However, I will feel uneasy about it. This is not to say I’ve jumped on the Bernie train just yet. I have reservations about Bernie as well. From my own observations, I have seen a group of supporters known as ‘Bernie Bros’ who have adopted a similar nature as Trump supporters.
While I am not saying Bernie is the liberal equivalent to Trump, I am saying he encapsulates similar behaviors which foster negative attitudes from his supporters. Because of this, I would find it difficult to give my full support to Bernie Sanders.
To be quite honest, although I will continue to follow the upcoming primaries, I feel unaffected by what could happen. The candidate who I was rooting for dropped out after I cast my ballot. Now we have two candidates who I neither like nor dislike but will support over Trump. Each candidate has policy I can get behind and they are both in line with my own moral standings so honestly to me it does not matter who the democratic candidate is. I will continue doing my research and hopefully come November, I am more confident in who I vote for President.
