Sanders Endorses Biden For President

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) officially endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential bid on Monday, five days after suspending his own campaign for the Democratic Party nomination.

“We have to make Trump a one-term president and we need you in the White House,” Sanders said on a livestream video with Biden on Monday. “Today, I am asking all Americans — I’m asking every Democrat, I’m asking every independent, I’m asking a lot of Republicans — to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe, and I’m speaking just for myself now, is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country.”

He added: “We’ve got to make Trump a one-term president and we need you in the White House. So I will do all that I can to see that that happens.”

Sanders hinted his intentions of endorsing the presumptive Democratic nominee in a Twitter post shortly before appearing on Biden’s livestream.

During the livestream, both talked about the nation’s coronavirus response and policy issues, with Sanders announcing that the two campaigns are teaming up for a “number of task forces” issues. Those policy working groups will cover issues including the economy, education, criminal justice, immigration, climate change and health care.

“I have been very pleased that your staff and my staff have been working together over the last several weeks to coming up with a number of task forces that will look at some of the most important issues facing this country,” Sanders said. “It’s no great secret out there, Joe, that you and I have our differences and we’re not going to paper them over. That’s real. But I hope these task forces will come together utilizing the best minds – people in your campaign and in my campaign – to work out real solutions to these very, very, important problems. I look forward to working with you and bringing some great people into those task forces.”

“I think that your endorsement means a great deal. It means a great deal to me. I think people are going to be surprised that we are apart on some issues but we’re awfully close,” Biden said a couple minutes later. “I’m going to need you — not just to win the campaign, but to govern.”

At one point, Sanders asked Biden if he could support a national $15-an-hour minimum wage, in which Biden replied “yes.”

Sanders’ endorsement of Biden came much earlier in the presidential cycle is a stark contrast to the 2016 Democratic race when the Vermont Senator endorsed Hillary Clinton a week prior to the Democratic National Convention in July.

Minutes after Sanders endorsed Biden, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale issued a statement, saying “this is further proof that even though Bernie Sanders won’t be on the ballot in November, his issues will be.”

“This is further proof that even though Bernie Sanders won’t be on the ballot in November, his issues will be. Biden had to adopt most of Bernie’s agenda to be successful in the Democrat primaries,” the statement reads. “One thing that is missing is enthusiasm, however, as almost no one is excited about a Biden candidacy. And while Biden is the Democrat establishment’s candidate, President Trump remains the disruptor candidate who has brought change to Washington. President Trump’s supporters will run through a brick wall to vote for him. Nobody is running through a brick wall for Joe Biden.”