Former Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang has thrown his support behind Joe Biden, adding to a string of endorsements for the former vice president as he surges towards his party’s nomination.

Speaking on a CNN panel as results were announced in several key primaries, Mr Yang cast his endorsement in pragmatic terms. “I believe that Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee,” he said, “and I’ve always said I’m going to support whoever the nominee is.

“So I hereby am endorsing Joe Biden to be not just the nominee for the Democratic Party but the next president of the United States.”

Mr Yang made clear that his endorsement was far from a rejection of Bernie Sanders. “I say this having supported Bernie Sanders in 2016, Bernie was an inspiration for me, inspired my run. But the math says Joe is our prohibitive nominee, we need to bring the party together, we need to start working on defeating Donald Trump.”

An entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Mr Yang entered the Democratic race having never before held elected office. His trademark policy was the “freedom dividend”, a universal basic income of $12,000 a year that would be given to every American “independent of one’s work status or any other factor”.

Mr Yang proved a surprisingly strong fundraiser and qualified for several Democratic debates, raising his profile far higher than had been expected. He became something of a cult figure; The New York Times called him “the internet’s favorite candidate”, and he attracted a devoted following nicknamed the “Yang Gang”.

However, Mr Yang’s appeal turned out to have a ceiling. He never rose into the top tier, and ultimately dropped out after posting a meagre result in the New Hampshire primary. Speculation has since circulated that he could make another run at public office — perhaps the mayoralty of New York City.

When he endorsed Mr Biden on CNN, Mr Yang was asked why he had picked the former vice president when his positions on many big-picture issues, such as economics and health care, align him more closely with Mr Sanders. In response, he flipped the question onto Mr Biden.

Referring to his and Mr Sanders’s appeal to younger, more left-wing voters, Mr Yang cautioned that Mr Biden could not take their support for granted.

“We need to start doing the work of improving Americans’ lives on the ground, because too many Americans have seen their way of life disintegrate over the last number of years, and Bernie’s been calling out those problems and tapping into the frustration in the right way.