Sen. Bernie Sanders may have lost the 2016 Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, but that doesn’t mean his presidential aspirations are gone. The Vermont senator is reportedly considering a run again in 2020.
“Yes, is the answer,” one Sanders associate said when asked if he’s thinking about running, reports The Hill.
“He thinks he's earned the right to run again, and he believes if he would have been the [Democratic] candidate he would have won against Trump.”
The source also said he’s also being mindful of other Democratic candidates who may enter the race.
“The last thing he's going to do is step aside and let Joe Biden take it,” the associate said.
Sanders, 75, hasn’t publicly said if he intends to run for president again and his office did not respond to questions.
Some of his actions, however, have people talking.
Earlier this month, he traveled to Iowa for the first time since losing the state’s caucuses to Clinton during the Democratic primary. He gave a keynote address at an event sponsored by the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.
Next month, he’ll return to the state again to promote his book, “Bernie Sanders: Guide to Political Revolution.”
Sanders held campaign-style rallies in West Virginia and Kentucky earlier this month, where he criticized the Republican healthcare plan. In April, he appeared front and center on a tour across red states with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez. (The Hill)
Sanders’s former campaign manager Jeff Weaver said he’s “keeping the door open” to the possibility of running for president again.
And his supporters seem very supportive of the idea.
“I can speak for the millions of people who supported him in saying we would love it if he runs again, and we’re hopeful he’ll run again,” said Larry Cohen, a senior adviser to Sanders in 2016, reports The Hill.
Both Cohen and Weaver thought Sanders, an independent, would run as a Democrat if he did throw his hat in the ring in 2020.
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