The New York Times is reporting that Bernie Sanders is cancelling his visit to Mississippi this Friday and will instead focus his pre-primary efforts on Michigan. This can only be seen as essentially conceding the state to Joe Biden.
Sanders was expected to speak at 2:30pm in Jackson at Mississippi’s Civil Rights museum with Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba. That event page has not been updated with the change in the Vermont Senator’s schedule.
Sanders lost Mississippi to Hillary Clinton in 2016, drawing only 17% of the vote to Clinton’s 83%.
The likelihood of a similar result versus 2020 rival Biden is high.
Sanders has thus far underperformed in the South, losing Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas to the Biden in recent contests.
Biden is outperforming Sanders among black voters in states like Alabama, and with the endorsement of Second District Congressman Bennie Thompson this morning, Sanders’ chances of winning Mississippi are remote.
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