Updated at 1:11 p.m. ET
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders suspended his 2020 presidential campaign Wednesday, bowing to the commanding delegate lead former Vice President Joe Biden established.
"I wish I could give you better news, but I think you know the truth. And that is that we are now some 300 delegates behind Vice President Biden, and the path toward victory is virtually impossible," Sanders told supporters in livestreamed remarks, shortly after he had broken the news to campaign staff.
Sanders' decision comes weeks after the coronavirus pandemic upended the Democratic race. The worsening outbreak delayed primary contests and the party's nominating convention and halted all in-person campaigning, forcing the two candidates to hold virtual events from their respective homes.
Sanders suspended his campaign after mask-wearing voters went to the polls Tuesday in Wisconsin. The state controversially forged ahead with its primary, despite public health concerns. Results for the state's contest are expected on Monday.
It was the first state to hold a contest since March 17. Biden swept three primaries that day, capping a month in which he rose from what seemed like the political dead to dominate three straight weeks of multiple-state primaries. Biden won 10 contests on Super Tuesday, five a week later and three more in mid-March, before the virus delayed more than a dozen contests.
Sanders, like every other Democratic presidential candidate, had long promised to support the eventual nominee. In his remarks Wednesday he congratulated Biden, calling him a "very decent man," and promised to "work with [Biden] to move our progressive ideas forward." Biden lauded Sanders in a lengthy statement of his own.
Still, Sanders said he'll remain on the ballot in the rest of this year's primaries, in order to win more delegates to bring to the Democratic National Convention. The more pledged delegates Sanders has, the more he'll be able to influence the party's platform and rules.