Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a Friday interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi explained why he has yet to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president, suggesting he wants first to see more specific commitments from her on issues important to the working class.
The Hill reported this week that Sanders is looking to shape Harris’s campaign, and that he had held off on an endorsement in part to exert some pressure on the vice president to adopt some of his priorities.
Sanders in the interview made it clear he will work to elect Harris, noting he is taking part in events in Maine to do so. He said he wanted to do everything he could to defeat former President Trump and to make Harris the next president.
But he said he wanted to get more specific commitments from Harris on issues such as expanding Medicare and Social Security before providing an official endorsement.
“I think it’s important for some of us to say look, we know that there’s a lot of big money in the Democratic Party,” Sanders told Valshi. “We want to make sure that the vice president is listening to the working class of this country, to the progressives as well.
“These are not radical ideas and I would hope very much we get specificity,” he added.
Asked about what issues he’s looking for commitments from Harris, Sanders talked about the need to lift the income cap on Social Security in order to expand it. He also said Medicare should be expanded to cover dental and vision.
He said all student debt should also be forgiven, and that there should be a cap on rents in the United States.
Sanders did not suggest he needed specific commitments on all of these issues, and he offered no criticism of Harris in any of his remarks.
“I have talked to the vice president and look forward to speaking to her in the near future,” he told Valshi when asked if he was having a discussion with Harris. “Yeah, that conversation is going on.”
He added that he hopes he does get assurances on these issues from Harris.
Sanders ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 and 2020, finishing as the runner up in both cases. His efforts have pushed the Democratic Party to the left and he praised President Biden’s work for the working class during his remarks to Valshi.
Harris adopted a number of liberal positions during her 2020 run for the White House, but she is also expected to come under pressure to move toward the center ahead of a tight race with Trump in the falls.
Polls show Harris is closing the gap with Trump, but the contest is expected to be very close in the swing states that will decide the election.