Sanders to join Clinton on campaign trail in show of party unity

Five weeks after Clinton clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders is scheduled to join her at a rally designed to put their bitter primary campaign behind them and emphasize a shared commitment to beating Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, in the November 8 election. 

The appearance in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which concludes weeks of negotiations between the two camps, comes after Clinton last week adopted elements of Sanders’ plans for free in-state college tuition and expanded affordable healthcare coverage. It is also less than two weeks before the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where Clinton is expected to become the party’ official nominee. Sanders also successfully pushed to include an array of liberal policy positions in the Democratic Party platform, approved by a committee on Saturday, which his campaign described as “the most progressive in party history.”

Sanders did not win all of his policy fights in the party platform, notably failing to win support for blocking a vote in Congress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. But the senator from Vermont said the two campaigns were “coming closer together.” 

Clinton hopes the joint appearance will help her win over those Sanders supporters who have not fallen in line behind her candidacy. In recent polling, only about 40 per cent of Sanders’ supporters currently say they will back Clinton. 

But top Democrats including President Barack Obama and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a favourite of the party’s liberal wing, have already announced their support for Clinton, leaving Sanders at risk of being left behind in the Democratic battle against Trump.