Sanders Camp Says They’re Not Recruiting Superdelegates Anymore

The Bernie Sanders campaign is no longer actively courting Democratic superdelegates in an attempt to get them to switch their vote, campaign manager Jeff Weaver said Thursday afternoon.

“Does he intend to challenge [Hillary Clinton] at the convention,” host John Heilemann asked. “Or are you just talking about him just continuing to advocate for the issues he’s always cared about. There’s a lot of vagueness in ‘continue my campaign until the convention.’ Does he still believe he’s trying to win the Democratic nomination?”

Weaver would not concede that Sanders was no longer pursuing the nomination, but did say that they were no longer recruiting superdelegates, which would have been the only path to the nomination. “We are not currently lobbying superdelegates,” Weaver said. “I don’t anticipate that’ll start anytime soon,” he added.

For some time now Sanders’ only strategy to win the nomination had been to convince superdelegates — the overwhelming majority of whom had indicated support for Clinton, but who were unbound until the Democratic National Convention — to switch sides. Clinton has been holding the lead in pledged delegates, which are assigned based on primaries and caucuses.

Weaver made the remarks on Bloomberg Politics’ With All Due Respect, and they were perhaps the closest thing to a concession voters have heard from the campaign since Sanders pledged not to suspend his campaign before the DNC, which will take place in Philadelphia this July.

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