Sanders endorses Hillary Clinton for US president

Senator Bernie Sanders has congratulated Hillary Clinton on becoming the Democratic Party nominee for the United States presidential election.

With Clinton by his side, Sanders made the announcement on Wednesday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he effusively thanked his donors and supporters.

Sanders promised to work with Clinton to defeat the presidential nominee of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, in November, saying: “Together we have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution continues. It is not enough to win the nomination. Secretary Clinton goes into the convention with 389 more pledged delegates than we have and a lot more super delegates.

“Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process and I congratulate her for that. She will be the Democratic nominee for president. And I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States.

“I have come here today not to talk about the past but to focus on the future. That future will be shaped more by what happens on November 8 … than by any other event in the world. I have come here to make it as clear as possible as to why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton and why she must become our next president.

“During the last year, I have had the extraordinary opportunity to speak to more than 1.4m Americans at rallies in almost every state… and the profound lesson that I have learned is that this campaign is not really about Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders.. this campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face. And there is no doubt in my mind that as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that.

“Republicans want us to forget where we were seven and a half years ago. Our economy was in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. We have come a long way in the last 7.5 years, and I thank President Obama and vice president Biden for their leadership in pulling us out of that terrible recession.

“But I think we can all agree that much, much more needs to be done. Too many Americans are still being left out, left behind and ignored. THere is too much poverty, there is too much despair. Hillary Clinton understands that we must fix an economy in America that is rigged and that sends almost all new wealth and income to the top 1%.

“She believes, we all believe, that we must raise the minimum wage to a living wage. And further, she wants to create millions of new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. but her opponent, Donald Trump, well, he has a very different view.

“He believes that states should have the right to lower the minimum wage or even abolish the minimum wage. If Donald Trump is elected, we will see no increase in the federal minimum wage of $7.25 / hour, a starvation wage.

“This election is about which candidate will nominate supreme court justices who are prepared to overturn the disastrous Citizens United decision, a decision which is allowing billionaires to buy elections and is undermining our democracy.”