How Sanders is helping keep the progressive movement strong
Former presidential candidate retains Dems largest cohesive constituency
WILMINGTON, Del. — Bernie Sanders is in a familiar position: runner-up.
But as Democrats gathered virtually to formally select Joe Biden as their presidential nominee, the Vermont senator was perhaps at the height of his power, despite twice losing his White House bid.
Sanders, who addressed the Democratic National Convention on Monday, was the last primary challenger standing against Biden. He retains the party’s largest cohesive constituency in a progressive base unwavering in its support. And his signature ideas on single-payer health care, tuition-free college and remaking the economy to combat climate change are now part of the everyday debate.
“Our movement continues and is getting stronger every day,” Sanders said in his address. “Many of the ideas we fought for, that just a few years ago were considered ‘radical,’ are now mainstream. But, let us be clear, if Donald Trump is reelected, all the progress we have made will be in jeopardy.”
He urged his supporters, and many people who voted Republican in 2016, to unify around Biden while also blistering Trump for leading the nation “down the path of authoritarianism.”
“This president is not just a threat to our democracy, but by rejecting science, he has put our lives and health in jeopardy,” Sanders said of the coronavirus outbreak. “Nero fiddled while Rome burned; Trump golfs.”
The 78-year-old Sanders almost certainly won’t mount another White House bid. But he’s solidifying a legacy as he helps Biden build ties with the left to prevent the type of internal divisions that helped Trump win in 2016. And he’s basking in victories that progressives have recently notched in Democratic congressional primaries in Missouri, New York and Illinois, many of which he helped engineer.
“Electorally we are doing very well,” Sanders said in an interview before the convention. “Most importantly, young people in this country, whether they’re Black or white or Latino, Native American, Asian American, young people strongly support the progressive agenda.”
Those close to Sanders also credit him with persuading activists and others who might not have run for office to become candidates.