Bernie Sanders' decision to stay in the race ensures the Democratic Party remains divided and sets the stage for potential conflict in Philadelphia in July. | Getty Sanders won't drop out: 'The struggle continues' He can't win but he vows to keep campaigning until the convention.

Bernie Sanders early Wednesday morning pledged to "fight on" in the Democratic primary, even after Hillary Clinton secured the delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

"Next Tuesday we continue the fight in the last primary in Washington, D.C.," Sanders said, as the crowd of supporters roared in Santa Monica.


“And then we take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia," Sanders said, promising to continue his campaign all the way to the convention in July.

This, despite delegate math that shows Clinton has the Democratic nomination in hand after defeating Sanders in both the delegate count and popular vote.

“I am pretty good at arithmetic and I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate that we can get," Sanders told the enthusiastic California crowd.

The Vermont senator said he spoke in separate phone calls with both Clinton and President Barack Obama. He plans to sit down with Obama in person on Thursday – a move that might delay any rollout of a White House endorsement for Clinton.

"Tonight I had a very gracious call from Secretary Clinton and congratulated her on her victories tonight," Sanders said.

But Sanders' decision to stay in the race ensures the Democratic Party remains divided and sets the stage for potential conflict – or at least competing visions – when party elite gather in Philadelphia.

At moments during his speech, Sanders sounded like he just might quit. He spoke about the need to defeat Trump, as if he was preparing to pivot to a message of Democratic unity.

“Our campaign from day one has understood some very basic points and that is first we will not allow right wing Republicans to control our government,” he said. “And that is especially true with Donald Trump as the Republican candidate. The American people, in my view, will never support a candidate whose major theme is bigotry.”

But in the end, he wasn’t ready to pull the plug.

"The struggle continues," he said.