Bernie Sanders, everyone’s favourite irascible socialist grandpa, has announced he is running for the Democratic Party‘s nomination for President of the United States in 2020. In less than four hours, his campaign raised more than $1 million.
#BREAKING: Senator @BernieSanders tells @CBSNews in an exclusive interview that he will run for president.
“We’re gonna win. We are gonna also launch what I think is unprecedented in modern American history and that is a grassroots movement.” https://t.co/b9l17Noxqa pic.twitter.com/cFO0lJdQTL
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) February 19, 2019
Sanders, 77, was a surprise candidate in the 2016 Democratic primaries, running to the left of Hillary Clinton and bringing a significant fight in early state contests. He eventually lost out (scoring around 43% of the final vote) but many have pointed to the fact that he thrived in traditionally Democratic states which ended up going to Trump. Would that mean Bernie would have won in the general election? Who knows! Maybe!
Sanders enters a packed contest, coming up against candidates including fellow economic populist Elizabeth Warren, former prosecutor Kamala Harris, senator Cory Booker, and – if the rumours end up being true – quite possibly former vice president Joe Biden.
“Our campaign is not only about defeating Donald Trump,” the senator from Vermont said in his first campaign email. “Our campaign is about creating a government and economy that works for the many, not just the few.”
Unlike before, Sanders sits at or near the top of voter intention polls, and he is widely considered one of America’s most liked politicians. On the other hand, he is likely to face scrutiny due to the fact that he is extremely old. The guy is 77 years old – Trump, to this point the oldest person to be elected president, was 70 when he got the gig.
Bernie is focusing on courting small donors to his campaign, and it already seems that – as with last time – a lot of people are willing to open their wallets for his campaign.
One thing is absolutely for certain: it is going to be an incredibly heated primary. A lot of people want to be the one to put the sword to Donald Trump in 2020, and it’s going to be very, very spicy.
