Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz dodged questions on Sunday about whether Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s description of himself as a “socialist” would hurt the Democratic Party.
{mosads}Sanders, an Independent Vermont senator, has stunned political watchers as he’s gained on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the polls.
“He is a self-identified socialist,” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida. “If he is your party’s nominee, would that social label hurt the Democratic Party’s chances of winning the White House in 2016?”
“This election is going to be decided on what the voters believe is the best choice in their candidate for president who is going to help ensure that their lives can get better,” Wasserman Schultz answered. “I believe that any one of those candidates is in dramatic contrast to any of the Republican circus performer candidates that are on the other side.”
“So congresswoman, you believe that Bernie Sanders could beat any Republican?” Bash pressed.
Wasserman Schultz said whomever Democrats nominate would be president, but she declined to mention Sanders or any candidate by name.
“I believe that any one of our candidates will stand in stark contrast when it comes to the priorities of the American people and how they’re going to make the decision on who they vote for president to any of the Republican candidates,” she said.