Democratic mega-donor reaching out to Pelosi, Schumer in bid to stop Sanders: report

Senior congressional Democratic leadership has been approached by a well-known mega-donor who encouraged them to endorse a Democratic presidential candidate who isn’t Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), CNBC reports.

Bernard Schwartz, the CEO of BLS Investments, has recently reached out to both Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), according to CNBC.

“We should know who is the best person to beat Donald Trump, and with all due respect, Bernie Sanders cannot beat Trump,” Schwartz told the network.

“They have good political reasons not to endorse until the primary is over, but I think we are losing too much if we give up on this position,” Schwartz added.

According to CNBC, Schwartz didn’t direct Pelosi and Schumer toward a specific alternative candidate, but he is a major backer of former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign.

Pelosi on Wednesday morning confirmed that she’d be comfortable with Sanders as the party’s presidential nominee in November. Schumer on Tuesday also suggested that he would be comfortable with the Vermont senator as his party’s nominee. 

“Look, the bottom line is very simple,” Schumer said Tuesday when asked about Sanders’s praise of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s literacy program. “We have a lot of strong nominees. … I’m not supporting one over the other, but I think every one of them will beat President Trump.

Other congressional Democrats have balked at the idea of Sanders, a longtime independent and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, being the party’s nominee in the general election.

Sanders has surged to front-runner status after virtually tying for first in the Iowa caucuses and winning the nominating contests in New Hampshire and Nevada outright.

The last of the “early state” primaries takes place Saturday in South Carolina, followed by the delegate-rich Super Tuesday next week.

Tags 2020 Democratic presidential primaries 2020 general election Bernie Sanders Chuck Schumer Donald Trump Joe Biden Nancy Pelosi

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