BREAKING NEWS: Left-leaning Bernie Sanders ends run for US presidency

LEFT-LEANING senator Bernie Sanders has ended his run for the US presidency leaving former Vice-President Joe Biden the virtually guaranteed Democratic candidate to challenge Donald Trump in November.

An early front-runner, the 78-year-old’s decision to end his second bid for the White House came after a series of poor results in the primary elections following early successes.

“So while we are winning the ideological battle and while we are winning the support of so many young people and working people throughout the country, I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful,” Sanders told his supporters on Wednesday.

The Vermont senator said suspending his campaign had been a “very difficult and painful decision,” but after realistically looking at his prospects for victory in recent weeks he did not see “a feasible path to the nomination.”

Sanders, who describes himself as a “Democratic socialist,” highlighted issues like free healthcare and university education and income equality, making him popular with young voters despite being the oldest candidate in the Democratic field and winning him celebrity endorsements from the likes of Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande.

In the 2016 presidential campaign he lost out on the Democratic Party nomination to Hillary Clinton.