After months of bitter campaigning, Bernie Sanders on Tuesday offered his long-awaited endorsement for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, saying he would work hard to help his former rival win the White House.
The joint appearance at a high school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire was the culmination of weeks of talks between the two campaigns aimed at unifying the party in preparation for taking on Republican Donald Trump in November.
"Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process, and I congratulate her for that," Sanders told a cheering crowd, with Clinton at his side.
"She will be the Democratic nominee for president and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States."
"She must become our next president," Sanders emphasized, offering a litany of reasons why the 68-year-old former secretary of state is a better choice than the 70-year-old Manhattan real estate mogul.
"If anyone out there thinks that this election is not important, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump will nominate, and what that means to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country," Sanders said.
The 74-year-old Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, waged a tougher-than-expected year-long battle against Clinton, but she clinched enough delegates to secure the nomination in early June.
Sanders, a feisty self-described democratic socialist, nevertheless had refused to concede defeat to his more moderate rival, although he had said he will vote for Clinton.
Sanders wants to ensure that his ideas are part of the party platform presented at the Democratic National Convention later this month in Philadelphia, when Clinton is formally nominated.
Party officials met over the weekend in Orlando, Florida to finalize the Democratic platform, which they described as the most ambitious and progressive in history.
The party reached agreement on language concerning climate change, health care and raising the minimum wage in America to $15 per hour. They reportedly failed, however, to reach common ground on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord.
(AFP)
