Sanders backs anti-Trump firebrand in Virginia governors race

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday backed former Rep. Tom Perriello in the Democratic primary for Virginia governor, the senator’s first big endorsement since the 2016 presidential election.

Perriello, who served a short stint in Congress from 2008 to 2010, will face off against Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam in the Democratic primary on June 13. He is running to succeed Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a fellow Democrat.

Virginia limits governors to serving one term. 

Sanders touted Perriello’s support for a $15 minimum wage and free tuition for two years of community college, positions that the Vermont senator staked out during his presidential run. And he praised Perriello as the right candidate to resist President Trump’s agenda.

{mosads}“We need to elect progressives at every level of government if we are going to beat back the dangerous agenda of the Trump administration and its Republican allies,” Sanders said in a statement. “That’s why I am so pleased today to endorse Tom Perriello for Governor of Virginia.

“At a time when the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans are fighting to destroy the Affordable Care Act, Tom is one who fought hard for its passage when he was a member of Congress. He is a committed progressive who will stand up for working families in Richmond.”

Northam was expected to have the primary field to himself and had secured endorsements from McAuliffe and a majority of elected Democratic officials in Virginia. But Perriello has upended the race with his anti-Trump rhetoric.

While Northam has taken shots at Trump, he is playing up his long service in Virginia state politics. Perriello has never served as a state-level elected official.

The Virginia race is one of the few statewide elections this year and will be seen as a litmus test of sorts on Trump’s first year in the White House.