Sanders Campaign Lays Off Staff

The campaign for Bernie Sanders laid off staff one day after crippling losses in 4 of the 5 Northeast primaries on April 26.
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Sanders Campaign Lays Off Staff
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses the crowd during a campaign rally at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, April 26, 2016 in Huntington, West Virginia. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
4/27/2016
Updated:
4/27/2016

The campaign for Bernie Sanders laid off staff one day after crippling losses in 4 of the 5 Northeast primaries on April 26. 

“We’re 80 percent of the way through the caucuses and primaries and we make adjustments as we go along. This is a process that we’ve done before of right-sizing the campaign as we move through the calendar,” said Sanders’ campaign communications director Michael Briggs.

This is not the first time that the campaign has laid off staff, having done so before after the Vermont Senator’s losses on March 15th’s Super Tuesday. Sanders trails Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination by over 300 pledged delegates.

Sanders has raised an enormous amount of funds in the campaign, with over $100M raised in 2016’s first quarter. However, according to Politico, the campaign’s financial situation is currently unknown:

While Sanders has raised large amounts of money online, and started April with $17 million according to his most recent Federal Election Commission report, he has also spent at a very high rate, including $46 million in March. It is unclear how much money his campaign currently has on hand.

The Sanders campaign has a large organizational presence on a national level and this is the first sign of a major downsizing now that a majority of the states have voted. 

Despite the downsizing, the candidate himself has repeatedly said that he’s staying in the race until the end:

“Let me make this clear, so there is no confusion: We are in this campaign to win, and become the Democratic nominee,” Sanders told a crowd at Purdue University ahead of Indiana’s May 3 primary, insisting that he can still finish with more pledged delegates.

Jeff Weaver echoed those sentiments, although the focus is now more about the Sanders message influencing the Democratic party more than Sanders winning: 

“This is a campaign for winning, and I think when you watch his speeches today in Indiana, they are going to look a lot like his speeches from Monday. There’s not really any change in the campaign. The campaign is going forward, it has a plan,” Weaver said. “This is a campaign for the nomination, for victory, and to transform as Bernie says the country and the party.”

He added: “It is certainly an uphill fight, but it’s been an uphill fight since we started this campaign.”