Sanders: I’m not harming the Democratic Party, I’m invigorating it

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday that he is “absolutely not” harming the party by staying in the race.

{mosads}The Vermont senator was asked during an interview with ABC’s “The View” if he is hurting the Democratic Party by not dropping out, given his narrowing chances of winning the nomination.

“No, absolutely not,” Sanders responded. “You know what’s going on right here in California? There is an unprecedented increase in voter registration among young people, among Latinos. Over a million people have come into the Democratic Party just in this year alone.”

Sanders, who trails front-runner Hillary Clinton by 271 pledged delegates, has taken some heat from Democratic leaders who say that he is harming the party’s general election chances by continuing to campaign aggressively against Clinton.

Sanders said that his candidacy has driven voter turnout and grown the party, arguing that his campaign is “invigorating American democracy.”

“When you are bringing young people and millions of working people into the party, to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the one percent, to have the United States join the rest of the industrialized world guaranteeing healthcare as a right — no, I don’t think I’m harming the Democratic Party, I think I’m invigorating American democracy and invigorating the Democratic Party,” he said.