It's not just the trouncing Sen. Bernie Sanders endured from Democratic presidential nomination rival Joe Biden Tuesday night.
The path forward also looks dimmer and dimmer for the one-time front-runner.
BIDEN'S 'JOE-MENTUM' GROWS AFTER ANOTHER ROUND OF MAJOR PRIMARY VICTORIES
After being pummeled by the former vice president in Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho -- and failing to have a breakout performance in Washington state -- the populist senator who’s making his second straight White House bid headed home to Burlington, Vt. Shockingly, he passed on giving a prime-time primary night speech.
But now, Fox News has learned that Sanders plans to deliver a statement to the press Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, from Burlington.
It is unclear if he will drop out or press forward.
Biden, nearly left for political dead just two weeks ago, enjoyed a blockbuster performance in Tuesday’s contests that boosted his lead in the all-important race for presidential convention delegates and further cemented his status as the undisputed front-runner for the nomination. And Biden's strong showing presented Sanders with a difficult choice to make on whether to continue his White House bid as any realistic chance of winning the nomination quickly vanishes.
Starting with his landslide victory in South Carolina a week-and-a-half ago followed by sweeping victories three days later on Super Tuesday, Biden has assembled a large coalition of voters – solidly winning among African-Americans, women, suburban and rural voters. Sanders remains strong among younger voters but has failed to expand upon his base, and his electability argument with white working-class voters was shattered by Biden in Michigan’s primary.
“The entire electability argument of the Sanders campaign has been that he can, one, win a broad coalition, and two, he can grow turnout. Based on actual vote totals to date, he has not been able to do either. Joe Biden has,” said Mo Elleithee, the founding executive director of Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service and a Fox News contributor.
As Sanders huddles with top advisers on Wednesday, the upcoming primary calendar appears to only make matters worse as his window for nomination closes.
The large states of Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Arizona all hold primaries next Tuesday, followed a week later by Georgia. Sanders lost all five of these states in the 2016 Democratic race to eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.
At last count, Sanders had slipped more than 160 delegates behind Biden, and it’s extremely challenging for the senator to make up such ground in the upcoming contests.
AOC ON BIDEN'S WINS: 'THERE'S NO SUGARCOATING IT'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – a top Sanders supporter and surrogate who’s extremely influential among younger progressive voters – said in an Instagram video on Tuesday night that “there's no sugarcoating it, tonight's a tough night.”
“Tonight's a tough night for the movement overall,” added the freshman lawmaker from New York City.
Sanders is now facing some calls from Biden supporters to call it quits.
“Quite frankly, if the night ends the way it has begun, I think it is time for us to shut this primary down. It is time for us to cancel the rest of these debates," Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina – the third highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives – said in an NPR interview on Tuesday night.
Clyburn – the highest-ranking African American in the House and a major Biden supporter and surrogate whose endorsement helped boost the former vice president in South Carolina – argued that if Sanders continues his campaign, “you don’t do anything but get yourself in trouble if you continue in this contest when it’s obvious that the numbers will not shake out for you."
CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF? SOME BIDEN SUPPORTERS SAY IT'S TIME FOR SANDERS TO QUIT
But Donna Brazile, a Fox News contributor and a former Democratic National Committee chair, disagreed.
"I believe the debate should go on. I think that Sen. Sanders and Vice President Biden should sit down and have a very civil conversation about some of the very big issues facing our country," she said Wednesday morning on "Fox & Friends." "This not the time to call for the end of the process."
The upcoming debate Clyburn mentioned is scheduled to take place Sunday night in Arizona.
“My understanding is that he is very committed to making his case in the debate on Sunday," Rep. Ro Khanna of California said Wednesday morning.
Khanna, a Sanders national campaign co-chair, emphasized in an interview with CNN that Sanders is “reasonable. He understands where the delegates are, but he also understands that less than half the delegates have been counted, that debates can change the conversation. And he is committed to going forward with the debate and laying out his vision.”
Before the results poured in on Tuesday night, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee -- which had backed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s White House bid -- urged Sanders to stay in the race at least through Sunday’s debate.
PCCC co-founder Adam Green told Fox News on Wednesday morning that “the progressive world wants a Bernie vs. Biden debate, as should all Democratic voters. Not because it will likely change the outcome, but because in order not to change the outcome Biden has to withstand one-on-one scrutiny similar to a debate with Trump. And he would need to cement some popular progressive positions that Bernie challenges him on. All of that makes us more likely to defeat Trump.”
If the debate does take place, Sanders won’t be able to play off the cheers from a live audience, though. The Democratic National Committee announced on Tuesday that the audience was nixed over coronavirus concerns.
NO LIVE DEBATE AT NEXT DEBATE DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS
Worries about the ever-expanding threats from the virus also forced both candidates to cancel their primary night rallies, which were scheduled for Cleveland. Sanders feeds off the energy from his large campaign trail rallies, which will likely disappear going forward into the immediate future.
While some Biden supporters are starting to call for Sanders to end his White House bid, the former vice president is holding out an olive branch to his rival and the senator’s legion of younger supporters. Having Sanders and his supporters on his side is crucial for Biden’s efforts to unite the party in order to try and defeat Trump in November’s general election.
Speaking near his national campaign headquarters in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, Biden said: “I want to thank Bernie Sanders and his supporters for their tireless energy and their passion. We share a common goal and together we’ll defeat Donald Trump. We’ll defeat him together.”
The Biden campaign told Fox News on Wednesday that the former vice president and the senator did not have a phone conversation on Tuesday night. There was no word on whether the two candidates would speak later on Wednesday.
Now it’s Sanders' turn to make a crucial decision – to continue on with his White House bid or end his campaign.
Asked three days ago on "Fox News Sunday" if he’d suspend his campaign if he lost Michigan, which was the biggest prize of the six states that held contests on Tuesday, Sanders said, “I certainly would not consider dropping out."
But he also stressed on ABC’s "This Week" that he was “not a masochist who wants to stay in a race that can’t be won.”