Bernie Sanders’ campaign team denied the rumors that suggested on Friday that the 74-year-old Democratic presidential candidate would be skydiving into a California rally. The team did not rule out that the adventurous option was discussed.
The story was spread on social media after a local Californian paper suggested that the Vermont senator might skydive at an evening rally hosted by a skydiving company at the Cloverdale Municipal Airport, near San Francisco, as reported by The Guardian.
However, when the campaign team was directly asked about the possible entrance, the answer was an obvious “no.” Sarah Ford, Sanders spokeswoman, denied the rumors via text message to the British newspaper by saying “I would not count on it.”
Another spokeswoman, Symone Sanders, also put aside the rumors while addressing other news that assured the Democratic presidential candidate will be parachuting. “He is not parachuting. He is not skydiving,” she said.
When asked whether the subject was going to be discussed, the spokeswoman commented that she could not deny it for sure. Mrs. Sanders also stated that she did not think the senator has ever skydived before, but she did not rule out the possibility that he may jump soon.
The beginning of the rumors
The possibility of the 74-year-old candidate skydiving came to surface as Jimmy Halliday, owner of NorCal Skydiving, assured that Sanders’ campaign team approached him to discuss the idea of having Sanders to skydive in the Californian rally.
“A lot of members of his team have said this would be something he is interested in,” Halliday said. “We are ready. I would love to jump with Bernie,” he added.
According to Halliday, on Thursday, the campaign team even did a trial jump with one of its members. The person who jumped was a member of the campaign’s “advance team”, which scouts locations and prepares for rallies. It remains unknown whether the rejection of the adventurous entrance occurred at the campaign’s headquarters or if there was an inconsistency with Sanders’ security team.
The candidate is currently holding an intense campaign in California since this could be his last chance to win the Democratic nomination and secure the delegates for his party’s convention. The polls have shown that this may be working as he is increasingly closing the difference between him and Hillary Clinton.
Clinton’s supporters have been pressuring the Vermont senator to drop out by arguing that is not possible for Sanders to secure the nomination at this point of the race. However, a recent poll showed that Sanders has been perceived positively among all voters for the Democratic primary with 43 percent, while Clinton had 44 percent, as reported by Los Angeles Times.
But the results remain uncertain given that Clinton had more advantage when it came to the likely voter. Hillary had 49 percent of likely voter while Sanders had only 39 percent.
Source: The Guardian