Bernie Sanders’ lone supporter in the senate says he will support Hillary Clinton

Senator Jeff Merkley said he hopes Ms Clinton will ‘take into account the huge resonance of the vision that Senator Sanders was putting forward’.

Senator Merkley of Oregon said Mr Sanders 'changed the conversation' in America (Getty Images)

Bernie Sanders’ lone supporter in the senate has acknowledged that the nominee is Hillary Clinton and he will support her.

When democratic senator of Oregon, Jeff Merkley, was asked on CNN whether he would endorse Ms Clinton as president and senator Elizabeth Warren as vice president, he replied: “I’m ready to say that Elizabeth Warren would make a great vice president.”

The senator, who said he believed that Mr Sanders “changed the conversation in America”, was pushed as to whether he only supported the potential vice president nominee, Ms Warren, and not the presidential nominee, Ms Clinton.

“Certainly I’m going to be supporting our nominee and our nominee is secretary Clinton, but what I really want to see is success in November and that means bringing together the two halves of the party,” he responded.

Ms Clinton clinched the number of delegates and superdelegates she needed to become the party’s nominee after she swept to victory in the final round of state primaries on Tuesday.

Mr Merkley said he supports Mr Sanders’ “big ideas to take on big challenges”, including abolishing the system of “corrupt” campaign finance, tackling climate change and making college affordable.

Speaking two days earlier to NPR Radio, Mr Merkley said he hoped that Ms Clinton “will take into account the huge resonance of the vision that Senator Sanders was putting forward”.

”This [Mr Sanders' campaign] has inspired millions of citizens - a style of campaign we've never seen before winning 22 states, extraordinary number of caucuses,” he added.

Mr Merkley said he believes that Mr Sanders will step down after the final democratic primary in Washington DC on 14 June and support Ms Clinton.

Secretary Clinton has received endorsements from president Barack Obama, vice president Joe Biden and senator Warren.

Possible support may even come from the opposite party after Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine hinted she would “never say never” when it came to voting for Ms Clinton.

Mr Sanders, shortly after meeting president Obama at the White House on Thursday, said he wanted to work with Ms Clinton "to defeat" Mr Trump.