Bernie Sanders has ended his presidential campaign. What that means is less clear than it may appear at first blush. He will not be actively persuading voters to vote for him, and he concedes that it is all but impossible that he could beat Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination. But Bernie will remain on the ballot for upcoming primaries. People will continue to vote for him, and he will continue to collect delegates.

And, critically, a few hundred staff remain on payroll, according to a high-level staffer I spoke to. Most will soon likely be laid off (though the campaign will extend their health insurance benefits through October). But some staff should be retained and, along with the rest of the campaign organization we have built, be repurposed toward new ends.

The campaign has an opportunity to strongly influence US politics despite its suspension. Because the US left has no nationwide social-movement infrastructure that can match it, Bernie can and should keep the campaign organization together to fight for a just response to the coronavirus economic and public health crisis.