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Bernie Sanders launches second Democratic US presidential bid

Bernie Sanders launches second Democratic US presidential bid
Bernie Sanders launches second Democratic US presidential bid

2019-02-19 00:00:00 - Source: Baghdad Post

US Senator Bernie

Sanders, the progressive populist who mounted a fierce challenge to front-runner

Hillary Clinton in the 2016 White House campaign, said on Tuesday he would

again seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2020.

Sanders, 77, announced

his candidacy in a lengthy early morning email to supporters, pledging to build

a vast grassroots movement to confront the special interests that he said

dominate government and politics.

"Our campaign is

about creating a government and economy that works for the many, not just the

few," Sanders said in the email, asking for 1 million people to sign up to

start the effort.

The senator from

Vermont launched his insurgent 2016 candidacy against Clinton as a long shot,

but ended up capturing 23 state nominating contests and pushing the party to

the left, generating tension between its establishment and liberal wings that

has not entirely abated.

This time around,

Sanders has been among the leaders in opinion polls of prospective 2020

candidates, but he faces a field more heavily populated with other liberal

progressives touting many of the same ideas he brought into the party

mainstream. That could make it harder to generate the same level of fervent

support as four years ago.

He also 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 Sanders struggled to win over in 2016.

The primaries and

caucuses that determine the party's nominee begin in February 2020 in Iowa, and

the Democratic winner is likely to face President Donald Trump, a Republican,

in the general election in November.

Sanders has been an

unsparing critic of Trump, and in his email he called him "the most

dangerous president in modern American history."

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.

"Together, you

and I and our 2016 campaign began the political revolution. Now, it is time to

complete that revolution and implement the vision that we fought for,"

Sanders said in his email to supporters.

Sanders, a political

independent and democratic socialist who caucuses with Democrats in the Senate,

said he would push in his campaign for many of the same issues that powered his

2016 bid and resonated with younger voters, including universal healthcare,

raising the minimum wage, and free public college tuition.

"Three years have

come and gone. And, as a result of millions of Americans standing up and

fighting back, all of these policies and more are now supported by a majority

of Americans," he said.

A former mayor of

Burlington, Vermont, Sanders won a US House of Representatives seat in 1990, making

him the first independent elected to the House in 40 years. In 2006, he won a US

Senate seat and in 2018 was voted in for a third six-year term.

His push against

Clinton, a former first lady, US senator and secretary of state, was notable

because few Democrats seemed inclined to challenge her claim on the nomination.

Sanders’ candidacy swiftly became a phenomenon, as he spoke to swelling crowds

and garnered passionate support on social media.

Unlike Clinton, he

refused to take money from corporate political action committees, or PACs,

relying on a flood of small-dollar donations.

When he ultimately

conceded and spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of Clinton,

some of his supporters booed. At the time, Sanders said his populist platform

would endure.





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