After losing four out of five primaries on Tuesday, a sobered Bernie Sanders released a statement unlike any we’ve yet seen from his campaign. While he refused to drop out of the Democratic race, the Vermont senator signaled for the first time that his team understands he is unlikely to win, and suggested an entirely new direction and purpose for his political revolution.

“I look forward to issue-oriented campaigns in the 14 contests to come,” Sanders said in the statement, congratulating Hillary Clinton on her victories but pointing out that the Democratic Party would need the independent voters who helped him win Rhode Island to succeed in the general election. “The people in every state in this country should have the right to determine who they want as president and what the agenda of the Democratic Party should be,” he said. “That’s why we are in this race until the last vote is cast.” He also vowed to retain his delegates until the Democratic National Convention, “to fight for a progressive party platform” that would includes planks like a $15 minimum wage, free college, ending fracking, and breaking up big banks.

The message, both text and subtext, is clear: Sanders is preparing to transition into a post-campaign candidate, essentially returning his candidacy to its initial purpose—moving the Democratic Party to the left. Over the last several weeks, after a string of victories seemed to herald a turning point in the primary race, the self-described socialist launched an all-out attack on Clinton, impugning her character, judgement, and at one point, qualifications. (The insult war between the two led to a vicious debate in Brooklyn, during which Sanders blatantly questioned whether Clinton had an honesty problem.) If Sanders suddenly dials down his anti-Clinton rhetoric, it will be because he has effectively conceded a war of attrition.

Securing the Democratic nomination, in either case, is nearly impossible for Sanders at this point. As of this writing, Clinton has 2,151 delegates, leading the Vermonter by 813 delegates, placing the secretary of state a mere 200 or so delegates away from a delegate majority. Even if Sanders could prevent Clinton from clinching the nomination before the convention, his plan to convert her super-delegates would require winning over roughly 400 of the 519 currently pledged to her. His argument, that he would be a better general-election candidate, would be wildly at odds with the will of Democratic voters.

A more attainable victory, Sanders seems to have realized, is to use the 1,338 delegates he has now—in addition to the hundreds more he could win in the next several weeks—to secure the second-best prize: leverage. When Sanders entered the race in 2015, he reportedly believed he had no chance of winning and simply wanted to use his presidential campaign as a platform to broadcast his views on money in politics. But with thousands of delegates under his belt, millions of supporters clambering for a more progressive party platform, and control over a much-coveted database full of passionate donors and volunteers, Sanders could conceivably withhold his cooperation unless the party agrees to change its priorities. The Democratic National Convention, after all, is not just a pageant to celebrate the winner of the primary; it’s also where the party writes its platform. And, as the Republicans warily eyeing their own convention are more than aware, it’s impossible to ignore impassioned delegates and angry protesters demanding to be heard. With millions of independent voters on the line—the same voters who helped Sanders beat Clinton in Rhode Island last night, and who might also be wooed by Donald Trump—the Democratic Party will be pressured to acknowledge the Bern, if not feel it.