Presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) announced his week that he is endorsing nine additional candidates in congressional races across the country. The endorsements released today follow the senator’s previous announced backing of Cori Bush (D-MO) and Marie Newman (D-IL).
“This is the most important election in our lifetime and I’m proud there are so many candidates running for Congress who understand that real change comes from the bottom on up, not the top on down,” Sen. Sanders said. “They’re all strong advocates for real change and together we will build a movement to transform this nation so that it works for all our people.”
According to a statement, “during the 2019 elections, Sanders heavily supported four Seattle, WA City Council candidates, three of whom won their contests even as Amazon and other corporations spent millions of dollars bankrolling their opponents. Also, leading up to the November 2019 elections, Sanders campaigned in Virginia for Delegate Lee Carter’s successful re-election effort in Virginia’s 50th Assembly District.”
In a statement the Sanders campaign noted that in “2018, Sen. Sanders vigorously campaigned for local, state, and federal candidates when the Democrats reclaimed the majority in the House of Representatives and flipped seven governorships. During the two months leading up to the 2018 midterm elections, Sanders visited at least nine states to rally support for Democratic candidates.”
In spite of that vigorous effort, Sanders’ endorsement recipients have had mixed results at best. In 2018, most of the candidates running for the US House that received endorsements from Sanders lost. Generally speaking, knowing how progressive his views are, he is cautious about endorsing candidates because he doesn’t want to hurt their chances in areas leery of candidates that are too liberal. In spite of that selectivity, those receiving a Sanders’ endorsement had mixed results at best.
The Senator’s gubernatorial endorsements suffered even worse results with only two out of eight winning their races. Some of the places he weighed in on were bizarre and might show he was tone deaf about the helpfulness of his endorsement. Georgia, Florida, and Arizona are not exactly socialist mainstays and they are among the places his choice of candidates failed.
The slate of 2020 endorsements includes:
- Jessica Cisneros (D-TX)
- Georgette Gómez (D-CA)
- Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
- Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA)
- Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
- Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI)
- Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)
- Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
- Representative Peter Welch (D-VT)
This list should probably not be harmed by a Sanders’ endorsement, based on the politics of the areas they represent. Maybe the Senator has learned to pick horses that, at least, will not be harmed by his assistance, even if he doesn’t actually help them.
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