Bernie Sanders dropping out of 2020 presidential race?

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he is reassessing his campaign after losing three more states and falling prohibitively behind former Vice President Joe Biden in the race.

Rumors have circulated among insiders that he is planning to drop out in the next few days.

A Sanders spokesman denied a report that the Vermont senator was immediately suspending his campaign Wednesday afternoon, but that word came as Sanders pulled down digital advertising on Facebook and Google, triggering further confusion in a contest already upended by the coronavirus.

Hours earlier, campaign manager Faiz Shakir said Sanders “is going to be having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign.” But Shakir also suggested that Sanders was in no hurry to make any decisions about ending his 2020 bid, noting that “the next primary contest is at least three weeks away.”

Reports surfaced that Sanders told insiders he was suspending his campaign, prompting spokesman Mike Casca to say in a statement that the candidate was “not suspending.”

However, Sanders’ campaign has deactivated digital ads purchased as recently as Tuesday.

The move to suspend social media follows a pattern set by the former Democratic presidential campaigns of Mike Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg, who both suspended their social media ad campaigns while “reassessing” with campaign staff.

Both dropped out of the race the next day.

Even if Sanders decides to keep running, he has little hope of catching Biden, who used victories in Florida, Illinois and Arizona to collect nearly twice as many delegates as Sanders on Tuesday. Biden now needs less than 47% of the remaining delegates not allocated to win the nomination.

A matchup against President Donald Trump awaits the nominee. Trump formally clinched the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday after facing minimal opposition.

For Sanders, catching up would be the tallest of orders under any circumstances.

But that task is even tougher in a political world turned as upside down, along with daily life, amid efforts to combat a pandemic that has killed more than 100 people in the United States.

With the exception of North Dakota and the Northern Mariana Islands, Sanders has not won a contest since Super Tuesday on March 3. During online remarks before most results were in, Sanders said little about the future of the race.

It’s possible that Sanders decides to stay in, of course.

Four years ago, Sanders kept alive his primary bid against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for months, even as it became clear he had no chance of winning.

But the primary calendar will be disrupted by the public health and economic havoc wreaked by the coronavirus.

Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky, and Maryland have joined Ohio in moving to push back their upcoming primaries, and others may yet do so. As Shakir noted, that has left the primary calendar empty until March 29, when Puerto Rico votes. But island leaders are working to reschedule balloting there, too.

That means there is nowhere for Sanders to gain ground on Biden anytime soon, even if he could find a way to mount a sudden surge.

What are your thoughts?

Should Sanders stay in the 2020 race — or drop out in the name of public safety (and party unity)?

The Associated Press contributed to this article