Sanders embarking on 9-state battleground tour
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders is embarking on a ninestate battleground tour on behalf of Democratic candidates competing in the November elections, returning to the campaign trail ahead of a decision on another White House bid.
The packed October schedule marks the Vermont independent’s most extensive stretch of campaigning since the 2016 presidential race. It will include stops in Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada, home to crucial early contests on the 2020 primary calendar.
Sanders is expected to make a decision on whether to launch another campaign in the coming months and the tour could inform his decision. It will allow him to test the durability of the left-leaning coalition he assembled in 2016 and build relationships with elected officials who could serve as allies should he run again.
“He wanted to go where he thinks he can be helpful in energizing the base and bringing in young people and independent voters and working-class voters who supported him,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ 2016 campaign manager and longtime political adviser.
Weaver said Sanders had “no timeline or deadline” for making a decision on 2020 but much of his consideration was focused on who is best able to defeat President Trump. “His message has reached across the Democratic base and positions him well were he to decide to run in the primary but also in the general election as the candidate who can best beat Trump,” he said.
Sanders’ challenge to Hillary Clinton made him the main alternative in the 2016 Democratic primaries, but the next presidential campaign is expected to be a wideopen contest that could include several senators such as Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, plus former Vice President Joe Biden, other members of Congress, governors and mayors.
Sanders has been at the center of a debate over the party’s future and whether his agenda of free college tuition, a $15 hourly minimum wage and a “Medicare for all” health care can win over general-election voters. The senator is coming off a victory after Amazon announced last week it would raise its wages for its workers to $15 per hour starting next month, and will raise pay for employees who make more than that, responding in part to pressure from Sanders.
The tour kicks off on Oct. 19 in Bloomington, Ind., and Ann Arbor, Mich.
Sanders will hold rallies and other events in South Carolina and Iowa on Oct. 20-21,
The itinerary will also include rallies in Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and California. Sanders’ California swing will help Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and two California congressional hopefuls, Ammar Campa-Najjar and Mike Levin.