NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — US senator Bernie Sanders, who battled Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, is expected to endorse her next week at a rally in New Hampshire, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Three Democrats involved in planning Tuesday’s event, who spoke to the US newspaper on condition of anonymity, said the anticipated endorsement is the results of weeks of talks between the two campaigns aimed at unifying the party.
Clinton’s campaign confirmed that the presumptive presidential nominee will appear in the northeastern state Tuesday, without providing further details or mentioning Sanders.
Sanders alluded to a potential endorsement during an MSNBC interview on Wednesday, when asked to confirm that talks about the possibility had occurred.
“That’s correct,” the 74-year-old Vermont senator replied.
Clinton clinched enough delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination in early June.
But the feisty self-described democratic socialist has nevertheless refused to concede defeat to his more moderate rival, though he has said he will vote for Clinton and will do anything to help defeat Republican Donald Trump.
Sanders has been negotiating with the Clinton campaign to ensure that his ideas are part of the party platform presented at the Democratic convention later this month, when Clinton is formally nominated.
Sanders hopes to push Clinton more to the left, particularly insisting “that the Democratic Party becomes a party that represents working people, not Wall Street.”
Clinton on Wednesday announced a proposal to offer free college tuition to students of families making less than $125,000 per year by 2021, a shift Sanders — who championed eliminating public college tuition — called “revolutionary.”
Clinton won 15.8 million votes in the primaries, while more than 12 million Americans voted for Sanders.
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