WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders has defended his decision to stay in the Democratic presidential race, telling “The View”‘s Whoopi Goldberg: “Last I heard, people in a democracy have a right to vote.”

The 78-year-old Vermont senator is facing increasing pressure to exit the race with former veep Joe Biden, now the presumptive nominee after a string of resounding primary victories gave him a large delegate lead.

But in a series of TV appearances Wednesday morning, Sanders was unrepentant about continuing his White House bid and said he will remain in the race after more than 15 states delayed their primary races due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Last I heard, people in a democracy have a right to vote, and they have a right to vote for the agenda that they think can work for America,” Sanders sarcastically responded when Goldberg asked why he was still in the race.

The Sanders campaign now appears to be a vehicle for the self-described socialist to push his policy platform, emails from his campaign encouraging voters to donate to charities responding to the COVID-19 fallout instead of raising money for him.

While many states have yet to cast ballots, Biden leads Sanders in the delegate count, 1,217 to 914.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell earlier Wednesday, Sanders conceded his long odds.

“We are taking a hard look at our campaign, we do have a narrow path to victory, it’s going to be a tough fight and we’re assessing where we’re at,” he said.

In an email last month, the Sanders campaign indicated he would participate in the New York primary on April 28, despite having no clear path to victory. Due to the pandemic, that election has now been postponed until June 23.