Warren thanks Sanders, says his efforts ‘will change the course of our country and party’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) thanked Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) on Wednesday after the progressive Vermont senator suspended his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying that his efforts “will change the course of our country and party.”

“Thank you @BernieSanders, for fighting so relentlessly for America’s working families during this campaign,” Warren tweeted. “Your fight for progressive ideas moved the conversation and charted a path for candidates and activists that will change the course of our country and party.”

“That fight does not end today,” she added. “We’ll continue it together in the Senate and keep working to hold the wealthy and well-connected accountable to the people.”

Thank you @BernieSanders, for fighting so relentlessly for America’s working families during this campaign. Your fight for progressive ideas moved the conversation and charted a path for candidates and activists that will change the course of our country and party.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 8, 2020

Warren, who ended her own presidential campaign early last month, is one of Sanders’s closest allies on Capitol Hill and once competed with him for the support of progressives in the Democratic primary contest.

Both she and Sanders championed liberal reforms like a “Medicare for All” health care system and plans to implement debt-free college. But even after she dropped out of the presidential race, Warren declined to endorse Sanders, choosing instead to remain neutral in the contest between him and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Sanders announced on Wednesday that he would suspend his campaign, saying that his path to the Democratic nomination had all but vanished in recent weeks as Biden racked up a nearly insurmountable delegate in the race.

“If I believed that we had a feasible path to the nomination, I would continue the campaign,” he told supporters in a live-streamed address. “But it’s just not there.”

Still, he said he would remain on the ballot in upcoming primaries in a bid to amass as many delegates to the Democratic National Convention as possible. Doing so could allow Sanders to exert influence over the party’s platform when delegates vote this summer.

Sanders’s exit from the race effectively establishes Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, handing a win to the moderate wing of the party. The Vermont senator did not offer Biden his endorsement on Wednesday, but did pledge to work with him “to move our progressive ideas forward.”