Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders met on Tuesday evening to try and begin to heal the wounds of a long primary battle on the same night that Clinton won the final contest of the cycle.
Just as the two were huddling with their advisers at the Capital Hilton for about 90 minutes, Clinton easily notched a 57 point win in the District of Columbia's Democratic primary.
A week ago, Clinton clinched enough delegates to become her party's presumptive nominee thanks to a mix of pledged delegates and superdelegates. But Sanders has continued to soldier on even after a loss last week in California and has given no indication he intends to step aside and endorse Clinton anytime soon.
A Clinton campaign official said that the summit was a "positive discussion about their primary campaign," which may be the first encouraging step for Democrats as the two try and find some closure, or at least common ground, before next month's convention in Philadelphia.
According to both the Clinton and Sanders campaigns, the two congratulated each other on their primary runs and talked about how they could unify the party against "the dangerous threat that [presumptive GOP nominee] Donald Trump poses to our nation."
"The two discussed a variety of issues where they are seeking common ground: substantially raising the minimum wage; real campaign finance reform; making health care universal and accessible; making college affordable and reducing student debt," Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement. "Sanders and Clinton agreed to continue working to develop a progressive agenda that addresses the needs of working families and the middle class and adopting a progressive platform for the Democratic National Convention."
Jane Sanders, the candidate's wife, also attended the meeting along with his campaign manager Jeff Weaver. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign manager Robby Mook were also in attendance.
Even though the D.C. primary marked the official end of voting in the long race, it still wasn't clear what Sanders planned to do next. His campaign has continued to say he will take his campaign all the way to the convention next month in Philadelphia, but he's reiterated in recent days that he will do whatever it takes to stop Trump from winning. The readout from Tuesday's meeting between the two underscores that.
Sanders also announced he will address his supporters Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET via livestream, where he could reveal his next steps.
Sanders wrote to supporters earlier on Tuesday that even after the voting is done, "our political revolution continues" and that his primary campaign has "sent the establishment a message they can't ignore: we won't settle for the status quo." At a press conference earlier on Tuesday, he called for DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to be replaced and for superdelegates to be taken out of the primary equation.
In a statement from the Democratic National Committee after the D.C. results, Wasserman Schultz did not refer to Clinton as the party's presumptive nominee, simply saying that, "At our convention in July, we're going to nominate a qualified, capable candidate who will build on the hard-won progress of the last seven years."
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