Yang calls on someone to ‘pull an Andrew Yang’ and bow out of 2020 race

Tech entrepreneur and former 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang on Saturday called for some of the remaining Democratic primary contenders to follow him and drop out of the race. 

“Someone needs to pull an Andrew Yang and be like, ‘I’ve done the math. I’m not going to win,'” Yang said on CNN after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was projected to win the Nevada caucuses, further cementing the democratic socialist as the front-runner in the race. 

Andrew Yang believes candidates need to step back to help the Democrats’ chances of defeating President Trump in November.

“Someone needs to pull an Andrew Yang and be like, ‘I’ve done the math, I’m not going to win'” #cnnelection https://t.co/8IlP0xcXmV pic.twitter.com/5dj9xicI4l

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 23, 2020

Addressing the characteristics of the Democratic primary, Yang said that the rest of the field would ideally “consolidate” but noted that “each candidate wants to be the last person standing to absorb the non-Bernie energy.”

“The problem for Bernie is that he’s unlikely to get an outright majority heading into the convention, which is going to set the stage for the superdelegates to emerge,” Yang, who suspended his long-shot bid after poor performances in Iowa and New Hampshire, said. “And then you’re looking at a contested convention, which is also the dream scenario for non-Bernie candidates.”

The Associated Press called the Nevada race with about 50 percent of precincts reporting and Sanders receiving about 46.7 percent of that vote. Former Vice President Joe Biden was in a distant second with 19.2 percent of the vote. The win builds on the momentum Sanders created following a win in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.

National and state polls have consistently shown Sanders with sizable leads over the rest of the field. But election forecasts are predicting that he may not earn a majority of pledged delegates at the Democratic National Convention in July, setting up a scenario in which unpledged delegates, or superdelegates, will help decide the nominee. 

“The superdelegates, let’s say, are not going to be favorably disposed towards Bernie, and each of the remaining candidates will say, like, you know, ‘I’m the pick,'” Yang said on Saturday. “So that’s the dream that’s going to keep every other candidate in the race.” 

If no Democratic candidate gets a majority of pledged delegates, there would be a second ballot at the convention in July. In this situation, votes would come from two sets of delegates — votes from the 3,979 pledged delegates and 771 votes from superdelegates. Pledged delegates would also be free to change their choice on subsequent ballots, with the candidate who earns a majority winning the nomination.