Feel the Bern
“I’m in to do what I can to make sure that the president is reelected,” the progressive told the Associated Press
Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders may sit at different ends of the spectrum of Democratic politics, but the progressive senator from Vermont is already throwing his weight behind the incumbent’s 2024 reelection bid.
“The last thing this country needs is a Donald Trump or some other right-wing demagogue who is going to try to undermine American democracy or take away a woman’s right to choose, or not address the crisis of gun violence, or racism, sexism or homophobia,” Sanders said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. “So, I’m in to do what I can to make sure that the president is reelected.”
Biden made his bid for reelection official Tuesday morning, releasing a campaign announcement video in which he went after the “MAGA extremists” — flashing images of Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Gaetz — from whom he wants to protect the country.
Biden has accomplished plenty over his first two-plus years in office, but his reelection campaign is anything but a slam dunk. His approval rating has been trending in the wrong direction and concerns over his age — he’d be 86 at the end of a prospective second term — are ever-present. A poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research recently found that only around half of Democrats think he should run again.
Sanders, who lost the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, would be a logical intra-party challenger if not for the fact that he’s even older than Biden. His endorsement on the day of Biden’s announcement is a welcome sign for the president, as any Democrat who might decide to run to Biden’s left would be effectively bucking the party’s progressive torch bearer.
“People will do what they want to do,” Sanders told the AP of any Democrats who might try to dethrone Biden. “I think Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee. And my job, and I think the progressive movement’s job, is to make certain that he stands up and fights for the working class of this country and does not take anything for granted.”
So far, the only other people to announce their candidacy for the Democratic nomination are new-age author Marianne Williamson and Robert Kennedy Jr., a notorious anti-vaxxer.