Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said on Monday that it is "unlikely" that he will make another run for the presidency in the future.
While speaking to the Washington Post, the 78-year old socialist senator from Vermont said that a third presidential campaign would be extremely improbable.
“I think it’s very, very unlikely that I will be running for president ever again”, Sanders said in the interview.
The self-described democratic socialist added that "next time around" voters would probably see "another candidate carrying the progressive banner".
The senator told the Washington Post that presumptive-Democratic nominee Joe Biden on his worst day would be "1,000 times better than Trump on his best day".
He reaffirmed, however, that he and the former vice president “have very serious disagreements on policy”.
“It's just hard for me to imagine how anybody can defend the current structure of our health care system", he said in reference to Biden's support for expanding the existing Obamacare system.
Sanders became the final candidate last month, in a string of contenders for the presidential nomination, to drop out of the race after a series of primary losses and the sudden revival of the Biden campaign.
The suspension saw the end of his second bid for the White House, which began in February of last year. Until February, Sanders was the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination due to his victory in the New Hampshire primary along with a landslide win in the Nevada caucuses.
While Vice President Biden's campaign floundered, he was suddenly resuscitated after a number of other candidates suddenly dropped out, leading to a coalescing of the moderate Democratic vote in the South Carolina primary, which was followed by a series of victories throughout March.
The Sanders Movement
The independent senator shocked the world in 2016 after announcing an outsider bid for the Democratic nomination.
The largely-unknown Sanders took on veteran Democrat Hillary Clinton, winning key early states like New Hampshire and bringing together a mass movement of largely young people in support of policies such as Medicare-for-all and a $15 minimum wage.
In both races, the Democratic Party has been accused of actively working to prevent Sanders from winning the nomination and undermining his campaign.
Leaks of emails between top staffers at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) revealed derision of the Sanders campaign among party chiefs.
The committee’s chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, favoured Hillary Clinton over the Vermont senator and worked to keep him from winning.
US President Donald Trump has also accused the DNC of "rigging" the contest against Sanders and accusing former candidate and fellow progressive Elizabeth Warren of remaining in the race just long enough to split the vote in states where Biden and Sanders were neck and neck.
Since his 2016 campaign, polling has shown that support for his policy platform has increased among a majority of US voters. While Sanders himself may not run for president again, his impact has made him one of the most effective politicians in recent history.