With Sen. Bernie Sanders securing the top spot in Nevada caucuses, businessman and former presidential hopeful Andrew Yang urged bottom candidates to accept the same truth he was forced to face when he dropped out of the presidential race less than two weeks ago. "Someone needs to pull an Andrew Yang and be like, 'I've done the math, I'm not going to win,'" Yang, a new CNN commentator, said on Saturday. He announced Feb. 11 after the New Hampshire primary that he had accepted his fate. “I am the math guy, and it is clear tonight from the numbers that we are not going to win this race,” he said. “So tonight I am announcing that I am suspending my campaign.”
Although Yang failed to name the candidates he thinks should follow in his footsteps, he said, “the rest of the field needs to consolidate ideally.” With 60% of precincts reporting by Sunday afternoon, Sanders had 46% of the vote and 10 delegates in Nevada, according to The Associated Press.
Although the remaining candidates haven’t rallied any delegates so far, former Vice President Joe Biden came in second with 19.6% of the vote. Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg came in third with 15.3% of the vote, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren came in fourth with 10.1% of the vote. No other candidate hit double-digit percentages, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar getting 4.8% in Nevada and businessman Tom Steyer getting 4.1%.
Still, the other candidates want “to be the last person standing to absorb the non-Bernie energy," Yang said. Sanders won in New Hampshire earlier this month and practically tied with Buttigieg for first place in Iowa, but the Nevada victory was particularly telling because its population better represents that of the country as a whole, according to The Associated Press. Nevada’s population is 29% Latino, 10% black and 9% Asian American, according to U.S. Census figures.
“The problem for Bernie is that he's unlikely to get an outright majority of delegates heading into the convention,” Yang said, “which is going to set the stage for the superdelegates to emerge, and then you're looking at a contested convention, which is also the dream scenario for all of the other non-Bernie candidates…" Superdelegates may not be "favorably disposed towards Bernie," and other candidates with delegates will argue “’I'm the pick,'" Yang said. "So that's the dream that's going to keep every other candidate in the race," he added.