on april 30, 2015, sanders became a candidate for the democratic party's nomination for president in the 2016 united states presidential election. he made the announcement in a speech on the capitol lawn. his campaign started on may 26 in burlington. unlike some of the other presidential candidates, sanders did not want super pacs to give him money. people give him money on his website. he won 22 primaries and caucuses in the 2016 democratic primaries. he won about 45% of pledged delegates to hillary clinton's 55%. on july 12, 2016, he formally endorsed clinton due to dnc policies, but did not end his own presidential campaign. on july 26, 2016, during a roll-call vote at the 2016 democratic national convention sanders lost the nomination to clinton.