Bernie’s back: Sanders announces 2020 run for president against Trump
Bernie Sanders has announced a bid to run for president against Donald Trump in 2020. The veteran politician confirmed he will campaign for the Democratic nomination for a second time following months of speculation. The Vermont senator lost out to Hillary Clinton following the 2016 election primaries.
Yesterday, just hours after he had announced his intention to run, his campaign had raised over $1m. In an email to supporters the politician, 77, said: “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.”
A self-described democratic socialist who has embraced policies such as universal healthcare and free university tuition, Mr Sanders’s spirited challenge to Ms Clinton three years ago stunned the Democratic establishment and reshaped the party’s politics.
Despite losing the nomination, his campaign helped lay the groundwork for the leftward lurch that has dominated Democratic politics during Mr Trump’s presidency. He won more than 13 million votes and dozens of primaries and caucuses in 2016 and has been among the leaders in opinion polls about prospective 2020 candidates.
The question now 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. The current political picture is marked contrast to 2016, when he was Ms Clinton’s lone progressive adversary. He is likely to face questions about his age and relevance in a party that is increasingly advancing more diverse and fresh voices, including those of women and minorities – groups that Mr Sanders struggled to win over in 2016.
The primaries and caucuses that determine the party’s nominee begin in February 2020 in Iowa. The Democratic winner is likely to face Mr Trump in the general election in November.
Mr Sanders has been an unsparing critic of the Republican, who he described in his email as “the most dangerous president in modern American history”. “We are running against a president who is a pathological liar, a fraud, a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and someone who is undermining American democracy as he leads us in an authoritarian direction,” Mr Sanders added,
Among those already in the Democratic race are fellow senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Ms Harris appeared to take a dig at Mr Sanders in New Hampshire on Monday, when she said she intended to compete in the state’s primary. “The people of New Hampshire will tell me what’s required to compete in New Hampshire,” she told an audience in Concord. “But I will tell you I’m not a democratic socialist.”