John Cusack calls on Sanders to 'un endorse' Biden and reopen his campaign after New York cancels primary
Actor John Cusack, on Monday, April 27, called on Senator Bernie Sanders to reopen his presidential campaign shortly after New York canceled its primary election due to concerns over the coronavirus crisis in the country.
The New York State Board of Elections recently announced that it was canceling its June 23 election, which sparked an immediate backlash from Sanders supporters. The Vermont Senator despite suspending his campaign had wanted to stay on the ballot in the remaining primaries in an effort to maximize the delegates he would be bringing with him to the Democratic National Convention scheduled in August.
Cusack was among the senator's supporters who took to Twitter shortly after the announcement to warn his followers that the decision taken by New York has set a precedent for President Donald Trump to cancel the general elections in November. The actor then called on Sanders to "unsuspend" his presidential campaign and withdraw his endorsement of former Vice President Joe Biden.
"Ny state canceled the presidential primaries - thus declaring electoral college ‘inconvenient’ to their political ambitions - a disastrous mistake by dnc for allowing it to happen - if the dems intend to behave like trump Sanders should unsuspend his campaign immediately," the actor wrote.
Cusack, later in the day, wrote another tweet to Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour, saying: "Bernie should un endorse & re open his campaign @lsarsour: NY Board of Elections just set a precedent for Trump by actually canceling election. Bernie deserved to stay on ballot to amass delegates, DNC was cool, Biden was fine w/ it. They acted unilaterally & unstrategically."
Cusack later posted more tweets on Monday, reiterating his calls for Sanders to reopen his 2020 campaign. He also noted that Democrats in New York were not being honest about the safety of voters amid the coronavirus pandemic when mail-in voting is an option. The actor's statement echoed the one made by the Sanders campaign in response to New York's decision to cancel its primary election, and which called the decision "a blow to American democracy."
Sanders’ senior adviser, Jeff Weaver, in a statement on Monday, said: "Today’s decision by the State of New York Board of Elections is an outrage, a blow to American democracy, and must be overturned by the DNC. Just last week Vice President Biden warned the American people that President Trump could use the current crisis as an excuse to postpone the November election. Well, he now has a precedent thanks to New York state."
"No one asked New York to cancel the election. The DNC didn’t request it. The Biden campaign didn’t request it," Weaver added. "And our campaign communicated that we wanted to remain on the ballot. Given that the primary is months away, the proper response must be to make the election safe - such as going to all vote by mail - rather than eliminating people’s right to vote completely."
The New York primary, originally scheduled for April 28, had been pushed back to June 23 because of coronavirus concerns. Although the primary has been canceled, voting for the congressional and state-level race on June 23 will continue as planned.