Yesterday, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he would be suspending his 2020 presidential campaign. At the beginning of primary/caucus season, Sanders was an early favorite. He won New Hampshire and Nevada, and had narrowly lost to Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the Iowa caucus. However, things took a drastic turn for Sanders once former Vice President Joe Biden gained momentum after the South Carolina primary. Biden was the big winner on Super Tuesday and led Sanders by over one hundred delegates after the big contest. Biden’s campaign only continued to flourish after Super Tuesday, leaving Sanders further and further behind. Sanders said that although the decision was difficult to make, he said it was needed as the path to victory was impossible because of the big delegate lead Biden had.
I am not surprised by Sanders’s announcement as the path to victory ended after Biden was the big winner on Super Tuesday. I was personally hoping he would stay in the race up until the end, but because of how expensive it is to run a campaign and the ongoing health crisis, this is the best decision for this team. I am saddened that many of my friends and I will not have the opportunity to vote for him in the primary. He was our ideal candidate out of the two Democratic candidates and because of how much support he had, we thought we could vote for Sanders in our primary, then vote for Biden in the general election. Unforunately, that is not the case anymore, and now we must pledge our support to Biden.
Now that the election is between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, to say I am terrified for the outcome is an understatement. At the start of the election, the nominees for the Democratic party were very diverse and looked promising. You had women, POC, and a member of the LGBTQIA community in the crowded yet diverse field. Unforunately, now the race is between two, old white men who both have a history of sexual assaults. Many people will vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is simply because they want Trump out of office. However, for some die-hard Bernie bros, that is not the case. Many are refusing to vote for a candidate from the establishment and especially someone who has been accused of sexual assaults. This refusal is giving me flashbacks to the 2016 election between Clinton and Trump, where many saw it as a race between two evils and many Sanders supporters refused to vote for Clinton. This is frustrating, as the Democratic party needs to be united instead of divided if they do not want to endure another four years of Trump. 2016 showed that unity is needed for this election. Biden is not the ideal candidate for most, but there will never be a perfect candidate. He can make himself look more promising by picking a great female running partner, but even then his history of sexual assaults and other scandals may come back to haunt him and hurt his chances.
The 2020 election has always had a lot of twist and turns. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, it will be especially interesting to see what is to come of this race. I am terrified of what is to come of the 2020 presidential election, but am praying that people will come to their senses and not have history repeat itself.
A Faker and Cheaper NSA 