Question for Sanders is whether he can stand out

WASHINGTON — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination again, a decision that will test whether he can still generate the progressive energy that fueled his insurgent 2016 campaign.

“Our campaign is not only about defeating Donald Trump,” the 77-year-old selfdescribed democratic socialist said in an email to supporters. “Our campaign is about transforming our country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.”

An enthusiastic progressive who embraces proposals such as “Medicare-for-all” and free college tuition, 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 Sanders is whether he can stand out in a crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates who also embrace many of his policy ideas and who are newer to the national political stage. That’s far different from 2016, when he was Clinton’s lone progressive adversary. Still, there is no question that Sanders will be a formidable contender for the Democratic nomination. He won more than 13 million votes in 2016 and dozens of primaries and caucuses.

He opens his campaign with a nationwide organization and a proven small-dollar fundraising effort. Sanders’ campaign said he has raised more than $4 million in the first 12 hours of his campaign.

Sanders