Sen. Bernie Sanders cancels get-out-the-vote rally scheduled for downtown KC on Monday

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has canceled his Missouri primary eve rally, scheduled for Monday afternoon at the Midland Theatre.

A statement from the Vermont senator’s campaign late Friday afternoon said only that the change was “due to scheduling constraints.” Sanders will instead hold a Get Out the Vote rally in St. Louis on Monday morning.

The announcement comes the day before his principal opponent in Tuesday’s Missouri primary, former Vice President Joe Biden, is scheduled to visit Kansas City. A rally is planned for Saturday afternoon at the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and other leading Democrats in the region are expected to join Biden.

Missouri, with 68 delegates at stake, is one of six states where Democrats will vote on Tuesday. Michigan, with 125 delegates, is considered the major prize and a must-have state for Sanders, who trails Biden in the national delegate count 621 to 553, according to NBC News.

Sanders lost the 2016 Missouri primary to Hillary Clinton by less than 1,600 votes, essentially splitting the state’s delegates with the former secretary of state.

This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 5:56 PM.