WE WILL WIN
US Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost out to Hillary Clinton to be the Democrats’ 2016 presidential candidate, has announced he is running for president in 2020.
The 77-year-old said in an email to supporters: “Our campaign is not only about defeating Donald Trump.
“Our campaign is about transforming our country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.”
The Vermont senator who embraces proposals ranging from Medicare for All to free college tuition, Mr Sanders stunned the Democratic establishment in 2016 with his spirited challenge to Hillary Clinton.
While she ultimately became the party’s nominee, his campaign helped lay the groundwork for the leftward lurch that has dominated Democratic politics in the Trump era.
The question now for Mr Sanders is whether he can stand out in a crowded field of presidential candidates who also embrace many of his policy ideas and are newer to the national political stage.
He won more than 13 million votes in 2016 and dozens of primaries and caucuses, and opens his campaign with a nationwide organisation and a proven small-dollar fundraising effort.
Mr Saunders told CBS “We’re going to win” and he was going to launch “what I think is unprecedented in modern American history.
“A grassroots movement to lay the groundwork for transforming the Kamala Harris economic and country”.
And he could be well positioned to compete in the nation’s first primary in neighbouring New Hampshire, which he won by 22 points in 2016.
But he will not have the state to himself.
California senator Kamala Harris, another Democratic presidential contender, was there on Monday and said she would compete. She also appeared to take a dig at Mr Sanders, adding: “The people of New Hampshire will tell me what’s required to compete in New Hampshire.
“But I will tell you I’m not a democratic socialist.” Senator Elizabeth Warren, of nearby political life of this all Massachusetts, will be in the state on Friday.
One of the biggest questions surrounding Mr Sanders’ candidacy is how he will compete against someone like Ms Warren, who shares many of his policy goals.
She has already launched her campaign and has planned an aggressive swing through the early primary states.
The crowded field includes a number of other candidates who are likely to make strong appeals to the Democratic base, including senators Cory Booker, of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, and Kirsten Gillibrand, from New York.
The field could also grow, with a number of high-profile Democrats still considering presidential bids, including former vice-president Joe Biden.