(Gray News) - Yes, he’s running.

In a Tuesday morning interview on Vermont Public Radio, Sen. Bernie Sanders said he’s running for president.

“I wanted to let the people of the state of Vermont know about this first,” Sanders told VPR. “And what I promise to do is, as I go around the country, is to take the values that all of us in Vermont are proud of: a belief in justice, in community, in grassroots politics, in town meetings. That’s what I’m going to carry all over this country.”

Sanders said his campaign isn’t just about getting President Donald Trump out of the White House.

“Our campaign is not only about defeating Donald Trump,” the 77-year-old 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.”

But he didn’t pull any punches when it came to Trump.

“I think the current occupant of the White House is an embarrassment to our country. I think he is a pathological liar,” Sanders said in the Vermont Public Radio interview. “I also think he is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, somebody who is gaining cheap political points by trying to pick on minorities, often undocumented immigrants.”

Sanders tweeted a campaign hype video on Twitter, touting his recent accomplishment, including his work trying to end the U.S. involvement in the Yemen civil war.

He has polled well in a pool of possible candidates, behind only former vice president Joe Biden, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in December 2018.

The outspoken Sanders self-identifies as a Democratic Socialist and has made a lasting impact on national politics, with some of the issues he’s campaigned on being adopted by more mainstream Democrats - including Medicare for All and a $15 minimum wage.

Sanders may have succeeded in pushing the Democratic party left. In a Sept. 7, 2018 speech by former President Barack Obama, he said Democrats are “running on good new ideas like Medicare for all" in the 2018 midterms. The idea isn’t new. It was a Sanders rallying cry in 2016 when he was vying for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Though unsuccessful in his bid, he continued to throw his support toward left-leaning candidates in the 2018 midterms.

As he contemplates a 2020 presidential bid, he is being haunted by allegations that some of his 2016 campaign aides committed sexual harassment.

Bernie Sanders
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@BernieSanders

I'm running for president. I am asking you to join me today as part of an unprecedented and historic grassroots campaign that will begin with at least 1 million people from across the country. Say you're in:
https://
bsanders.us/tw
 
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He said in way of apology in January: “I am not going to sit here and tell you that we did everything right in terms of human resources, in terms of addressing the needs that I’m hearing from now that women felt disrespected, that there was sexual harassment which was not dealt with as effectively as possible. So I certainly apologize to any woman who felt that she was not treated appropriately and of course, if I run, we will do better next time.”

As a longtime independent senator, Sanders caucuses with Democrats and is counted as a Democrat for committee assignments.

Sanders serves on several congressional committees, including the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; the Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Sanders has served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.

He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 2016, with Hillary Clinton officially winning the party’s nomination after the Puerto Rico primary June 5. The next day, President Barack Obama endorsed the former New York senator and first lady.

Clinton cemented her place as the party’s presumed nominee with wins in New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota in the June 7 primaries.

Supporters of Sanders encouraged others to “Feel the Bern.” Some toxic supporters are known derisively as Bernie Bros because they tend to be white and males, and some are accused of being misogynists and sowing discord among Democrats.

During his campaign, his message of Democratic socialism, redistribution of wealth and further regulation of Wall Street and the banking industry appealed to people. Sanders outlasted other Democratic candidates, such as Lincoln Chafee, Jim Webb, Lawrence Lessig and Martin O’Malley.

His populist message spread through social media and his campaign rallies. Sanders packed large auditoriums with supporters, giving Clinton a run for her money in the delegate count. He even bested the former secretary of state by winning the Michigan primary.

“Saturday Night Live” took notice of his candidacy and enlisted Larry David to parody the Vermont senator. David ended up being a distant cousin of Sanders, they discovered from genetic testing done in a 2017 episode of the PBS show “Finding Your Roots.”

Sanders was elected to the Senate in 2006 as an independent and re-elected in 2012 and 2018. Prior to that, he was Vermont’s at-large congressman from 1991 to 2007.

Sanders was born in Brooklyn, NY, and moved to Vermont after he graduated from the University of Chicago in 1964. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Burlington, VT, where he served until 1989.

Copyright 2019 Gray Television Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

6768499

His campaign raised a million dollars in small dollar donations in four hours, four million in half a day. This curb-stomps the fund-raising efforts of all other candidates.

6768908 But will it be enough to define him amidst a crowded field of similar minded (and most younger) candidates?

6769311
It's ridiculous how MSM came up with and keeps repeating that line. I'd like to bop some CNN or MSNBC folks straight on the nose.

Even if they were similarly-minded, why go for the copies when you can have the original? Besides that, they're not similarly minded. All the neoliberals that are suddenly pretending to be progressive now have slipped up and used wording like "access to affordable healthcare." Sanders' first-day donations were quadruple that of Copmala Harris, who already broke a record. They're all toast.

As for the other two progressives in the race, a lot of progressives have doubts toward Elizabeth Warren, and to a lesser extend to Tulsi Gabbard. And those aren't actually bad candidates. It's likely that Sanders, Warren, and Gabbard will form some kind of alliance against the establishment, and I suspect that Sanders will likely pick one of them as VP.

He said that his VP pick was going to be younger and a different gender than him. I think I know who he means. He might as well had said "My VP pick is going to be younger, a woman, and lives way too fucking close to volcanoes." A Sanders/Gabbard ticket would be fantastic.

6769329 I do think Harris and Booker are among the first to drop out. Klobuchar might have had a chance in 2016 but despite her rural appeal I don't think she's going to make it beyond the first few contests. I do agree that it'll likely come down to a Bernie/Warren clash for the left.

6769347
I actually wouldn't mind Warren winning. It's not ideal, though. She's weak, she backpedals when pressured by Democrats. She's generally good on the issues but I don't think she'd bring quite the change that Sanders would. Also she should have ignored Trump's insults, and if she's going to play on his terms then the general election with her will be a disaster.

I have a hard time seeing her beating Sanders. Before Bernie started running in the 2016 election, progressives wanted Warren, but now she's just discount Bernie. I don't think he's going to pick her as VP, either, since he said he was going to go for someone younger (which is a smart move. He's probably not going to croak in office, but he might?)

6769357 Yeah, Warren's age would be a handicap. Bernie or Warren will need to pick someone young to be their VP, especially since both of them will be older than Trump and thus would be the oldest man (or woman) elected president. I actually could foresee Warren picking O'Rourke, potentially, he checks most of the boxes.

6769380

O'Rourke

Whoa, I hope you're wrong about that. I guess it doesn't matter much since Sanders will probably be the nominee, but I am really hoping she wouldn't do something like that. The guy campaigned like a progressive in the 2018 primaries, but he's really not. For one thing he didn't get behind medicare for all, and even more importantly he took money from big oil. If only Sema Hernandez had won that primary (she's running again in 2020.)

Sounds as pretentious as expected. He says what he thinks his supporters want to hear. I would not trust him, but I'm not saying you shouldn't vote for him. Anything is better for the U.S. than the current government, but both of the two popular parties had several chances to prove themselves, and they managed to prove themselves unworthy.

Here is what the situation of the States looks like form the other side of the ocean:

The bar has been set so low that I don't see anything good coming from those who only aim to be the lesser wrong. The citizens of the country can't win, unless a third (or fourth) one has a good chance.

“running on good new ideas like Medicare for all"

New idea? He is kidding, right?

I am also worried about the complete lack of interest in freedom on both sides.

6830448 I'm curious, who exactly are you rooting for? So far the only potential third party candidate I've heard is Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks. And unfortunately, considering what we've got now, I just don't think America needs another businessman as president. You can't manage a country the same way you manage a company, even if Schultz's track record is actually successful.

6830654
That is kind-of what I said. I don't trust him, but I said I'm not saying you shouldn't vote for him, because „betting on the favourite” looks like the safest option.

Who I am rooting for? Any libertarian (in the true sense of the word) who is an advocate for personal freedoms instead of corporate interests. Bonus points for environmentalism. Maybe in 2024 things will start to improve...

The problem is that Trump won because the Democrats were just so bad, The Democrats are going to win because the Republicans were even worse, and now the Democrats only have to be slightly better than that.

They will just continue like before. You are lucky if you won't choke on all the red tape.
Good luck.