DNC wants 2020 candidates to certify they will run as Dems: report

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is reportedly planning to ask 2020 candidates to certify in writing that they plan to run, and if elected, serve, as Democrats.

Top party officials plan to meet with campaigns next week, according to CNN, and will ask candidates to sign an “affirmation form” committing to run as Democrats.

“The DNC will present presidential campaigns that have currently announced their candidacy, or the creation of an exploratory committee, with the rules and other materials next week at a briefing and this will include the candidate affirmation form,” a DNC official told the network.

{mosads}”As any additional candidates enter the race, they will be provided with the same information and will be required to return the form in the same time frame.”

The news comes after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced that he would run for president again.

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, ran as a Democrat in 2016 before losing the presidential nomination to Hillary Clinton.

Last June, the DNC adopted a new rule requiring Democratic presidential candidates to publicly affirm that they would run and serve as Democrats. The new policy was seen as a response to Sanders’s outsider candidacy.

Sanders, whose campaign says it raised over $4 million since announcing yesterday, joined a field of Democratic candidates who share many of his progressive values, and is already seen as a front-runner in the crowded race.

The Sanders campaign did not immediately return CNN’s request for comment on whether the senator will sign the DNC’s affirmation form.