WASHINGTON — The presidential campaign trail as we know it could be a thing of the past — Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders’ campaigns suspending all appearances until further notice amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Gone are the enormous star-studded rallies embraced by both Sanders and President Trump, making way for weird conference calls and digital town halls to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus.
Last month, more than 7,500 excited Bernie Bros crammed into a college stadium on the eve of the New Hampshire primary to see the Vermont senator and rock band The Strokes — an event that is now unthinkable.
On the eve of Tuesday’s primary contests, the Sanders campaign will instead host a “digital rally” headlined by Neil Young and Darryl Hannah which voters can tune into from the safety of their couch.
Joe Biden has also turned to hosting glitchy virtual town halls with voters as the government warns against gatherings of more than 10 people, making for an incredibly subdued presidential race.
President Trump also came around and agreed to cancel several rallies he had planned for Nevada and has since been confined to the four walls of the White House as he deals with the fallout of the disease which has killed 68 people in the US.
As the government warns the outbreak could continue until August — beyond the Democratic National Convention in July where the nominee is crowned to fanfare before tens of thousands of spectators — this may be the new normal.
As of 5 p.m. on Monday, the states of Florida, Illinois and Arizona vowed they would push ahead with their primary contests on Tuesday despite fears the virus could spread among people waiting to vote in long lines.
During Monday night’s Democratic presidential debate — which was held in a closed CNN set in Washington, DC without an audience — Sanders’ lamented the changes.
“I love doing rallies and we bring many thousands of people out to our rallies, I enjoy it very much, but we’re not doing that right now,” he said.
