Bernie Issues Warning to Biden

The Vermont senator sees trouble on the horizon
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 13, 2020 2:00 PM CDT
Bernie Issues Warning to Biden
In this image from video, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, Aug. 17, 2020.   (Democratic National Convention via AP)

Bernie Sanders is warning that if onetime rival Joe Biden doesn't do more to promote his own policies and reach out to Latino voters, the Democratic presidential nominee is at risk of falling short to President Trump this November, the AP reports. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who left the primary race in the spring and has worked to shift Biden to the left on key issues, has made the warnings in public and private in recent days. Most recently, he went on MSNBC on Sunday to express concerns that Biden wasn't speaking up enough about his economic proposals. "I think Biden's in an excellent position to win this election, but I think we have got to do more as a campaign than just go after Trump," he said.

"We also have to give people a reason to vote for Joe Biden," he added. "And Joe has some pretty strong positions on the economy, and I think we should be talking about that more than we have." In a Friday interview with PBS, Sanders was more blunt: "Am I here to tell you absolutely, this is a slam dunk, no chance that he will lose? That is not what I'm saying." Sanders used his MSNBC appearance to urge Biden to speak more about some of his kitchen-table economic policies: raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, lowering prescription drug costs, and expanding health insurance coverage. His comments follow a week when Biden campaigned with union workers in Michigan and released a tax plan focused on boosting US manufacturing by punishing businesses that take jobs overseas.

(More Bernie Sanders stories.)

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