People.com Celebrity Bernie Sanders Will Fight One Last Primary But Pledges to Work With Hillary Clinton to Avert 'Disaster' of a President Trump Vermont senator will stay in the Democratic presidential race through the June 14 D.C. primary By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall Sandra Sobieraj Westfall Sandra Sobieraj Westfall is the White House and National Political Correspondent for PEOPLE. She also writes for and occasionally senior edits the magazine's Crime section and the brand's Let's Talk About It mental health series. Westfall joined PEOPLE in 2003 as Washington Bureau Chief and specializes in bringing readers inside the personal experience of political life. She twice won the White House Correspondents' Association Merriman-Smith Award for excellence in presidential reporting under deadline pressure (for her inside-the-room election night exclusives on the "snippy" phone call between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000; and the hear-a-pin-drop silent moment in 2008 when Barack Obama, holding his mother-in-law's hand, took in the news that he would be America's first Black president). Prior to joining PEOPLE, Westfall was a White House Correspondent for The Associated Press after beginning her career in Congress, where she wrote legislation on women's health, mental health, and domestic violence. A native of Rochester, New York, she received her Bachelor's degree in politics (with a certificate in Latin American studies) from Princeton University, and a Master's degree in journalism from Stanford University. People Editorial Guidelines Published on June 9, 2016 03:30 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Sen. Bernie Sanders, with a collegial nudge from President Obama, pledged Thursday to join forces with rival Hillary Clinton and “work as hard as I can to make sure Donald Trump does not become president of the United States.” “I look forward to meeting with [Clinton] in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump and to create a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent,” Sanders said after a private late-morning meeting with Obama at the White House. The Vermont senator was mathematically eliminated from the Democratic race this week when Clinton secured enough delegates to claim their party’s presidential nomination. But Sanders said he is not ending his campaign quite yet. Sanders said he will “of course” be competing in the Democratic primary in the District of Columbia on June 14, the very last contest in the nomination race that began with the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1 and was, throughout, closer and more contentious than anyone expected when Sanders launched his campaign challenging the front-running Clinton last year. Just about two hours after Obama fulfilled Sanders’ request for a meeting, the president announced his endorsement of Clinton. Related Video: Is Hillary Clinton Intimidated by Donald Trump? And Sanders, accompanied by his wife Jane as he spoke to White House reporters right outside the West Wing entrance, had already turned his sights squarely on Trump. “Donald Trump would be a disaster as president,” said Sanders, adding that the bombastic businessman “makes bigotry and discrimination the cornerstone of his campaign.”