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Bernie Sanders Endorses Joe Biden for President Bernie Sanders Endorses Joe Biden for President
(about 5 hours later)
Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the Democratic nominee for president on Monday, adding the weight of his left-wing support to Mr. Biden’s candidacy and taking a major step toward bringing unity to the party’s effort to unseat President Trump in November.Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the Democratic nominee for president on Monday, adding the weight of his left-wing support to Mr. Biden’s candidacy and taking a major step toward bringing unity to the party’s effort to unseat President Trump in November.
In throwing his weight behind his former rival, Mr. Sanders is sending an unmistakable signal that his supporters — who are known for their intense loyalty — should do so as well, at a moment when Mr. Biden still faces deep skepticism from many younger progressives. The decision by Mr. Sanders to back his former rival is an unmistakable signal to his supporters — who are known for their intense loyalty — that they should do so as well, at a moment when Mr. Biden still faces deep skepticism from many younger progressive voters.
The two men appeared via live stream on split screens — each on each other’s live streams — talking to each other. “We need you in the White House,” Mr. Sanders said to Mr. Biden. “And I will do all that I can to make that happen.” In a surprise joint appearance over live-streamed video, the two men revealed a rapprochement forged amid extraordinary circumstances just five days after Mr. Sanders withdrew, a sign of how profoundly the coronavirus pandemic has changed the dynamics of the race. The uncertainty caused by the virus, the vast damage to the American economy, and the almost feverish desire to deprive Mr. Trump of a second term prompted an earlier-than-expected alliance between two ideological rivals, aimed at bringing together disparate factions of the party.
“We need you in the White House,” Mr. Sanders said to Mr. Biden. “And I will do all that I can to make that happen.”
Mr. Biden said: “I’m going to need you. Not just to win the campaign, but to govern.”Mr. Biden said: “I’m going to need you. Not just to win the campaign, but to govern.”
Mr. Sanders, who dropped out of the presidential race last week, hinted his intentions in a Twitter post shortly before the appearance. Mr. Biden provided his own clue, saying he would be “joined by a special guest" for his scheduled live stream at 2 p.m. The coalescence behind Mr. Biden is expected to gain even more heft with the expected endorsement of Senator Elizabeth Warren, the only major former rival yet to publicly back Mr. Biden. She is expected to announce her support soon, according to people familiar with the matter, adding another liberal standard-bearer to his coalition. There is not any holdup or demand for concessions in return for her backing, these people said.
The scene was a striking example of the ways the coronavirus has upended traditional campaigning. In normal times, both men likely would have appeared onstage together at a rally — or at least done so at an event with more pomp. Instead, both men appeared at their homes, as they have been doing for weeks as they communicate to voters mostly via live streamed events. The challenge now for Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders is to create an agenda that hews to Mr. Biden’s relatively moderate policy views, and draws in progressives, but also seems big enough to match the extraordinary moment in the country.
At times almost jovial, the two men went back and forth on issues, with Mr. Biden asking Mr. Sanders if he had any questions for him, and Mr. Sanders responding by asking Mr. Biden if he supported policies that the Vermont Senator has championed for years, including a $15 minimum wage and tuition-free public college. It is a complicated task for both of them: Mr. Biden will have to persuade more Sanders-supporting liberals that he will fight for their interests, and Mr. Sanders is essentially committing himself to try to vouch for Mr. Biden or at least bring more of his followers into the Biden camp. Neither man can predict with any assurance how their political alliance will pan out or what voters will make of it.
Already, progressive groups and activists were expressing skepticism about how far Mr. Biden would go to incorporate Mr. Sanders’s followers.
“Winning over Senator Sanders is one thing, but Joe Biden shouldn’t think that the work is over,’’ said Evan Weber, political director for the Sunrise Movement, an organization of young climate activists that had endorsed Mr. Sanders. He added, “There is still work to do to win over progressive leaders and young people.”
In attempting to adopt more of the policy ideas and political language of Mr. Sanders and the left, Mr. Biden is showing the clearest sign yet that the virus has changed the political equation. He intends to expand beyond his primary campaign message of restoring the nation and Washington to a pre-Trump era.
Progressives have been scathingly critical of that argument, saying that it neglects the many inequities in the economic, health care and immigration systems and in other areas where lower-income people struggled in the Obama era and under past presidents.
But at a moment of a presidential campaign when candidates often move to the center, this expanded message could prove perilous if progressives push Mr. Biden to make policy concessions and changes that start to concern more moderate Democrats and independent voters who do not support some planks of a far-reaching liberal agenda.
The alliance announced Monday was a sharp departure from the drawn-out, often-acrimonious process of reconciliation between Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. And it makes good on the promise Mr. Sanders has been making for months: That he would support the eventual Democratic nominee and do everything he could to defeat Mr. Trump, whom he has called “the most dangerous president” in modern times.
Former Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and a prominent supporter of Mr. Biden’s, said the quick cooperation was a reflection of the friendly personal relationship the two men enjoyed. Mr. Sanders was said to be greatly appreciative that Mr. Biden did not try to rush him out of the race.
“A lot of people think it’s old-fashioned, being polite to people, listening to people, paying attention to them,” he said. “It’s still important to people. Personal relationships mean a lot.”
Behind the scenes, Biden advisers and allies are already reaching out to former members of the Sanders campaign, according to three people familiar with the discussions, hoping to eventually bring some on board. Some Biden advisers expect other progressive endorsements down the road.
That news of the endorsement did not leak beforehand was another signal of the growing unity between the campaigns. Only a small group of people on each campaign knew the endorsement was happening, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Ms. Warren and Mr. Biden have spoken multiple times since her exit about policy issues, including the plan that Mr. Biden has developed to respond to the pandemic. At the staff level, Ms. Warren’s chief campaign strategist, Joe Rospars, and Anita Dunn, a senior adviser to Mr. Biden, have been engaged in talks bridging the two camps.
Ms. Dunn, along with Ron Klain, another longtime Biden adviser, played a central role in negotiations with the Sanders camp in recent weeks, while a top Sanders political adviser, Jeff Weaver, and his campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, represented the Vermont senator.
The scene on Monday was a striking example of the ways the coronavirus has upended traditional campaigning. In normal times, both men most likely would have appeared onstage together at a rally — or at least done so at an event with more pomp. Instead, they appeared at their homes, as they have been doing for weeks as they communicate to voters mostly via live streamed events.
When Mr. Sanders officially declared his endorsement, Mr. Biden seemed visibly moved. “Oh!” Mr. Biden said, before dropping his head as if he hardly saw it coming.
The two men said they would form “task forces” on issues including the economy, education, immigration, health care, criminal justice and climate change.The two men said they would form “task forces” on issues including the economy, education, immigration, health care, criminal justice and climate change.
The scene, which unfolded less than a week after Mr. Sanders ended his own campaign, was a sharp departure from the drawn-out, often-acrimonious process of reconciliation between Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, and the joint appearance appeared poised to further ease Democratic fears of a divided party headed into a general election against Mr. Trump. Two senior Biden advisers, Cristóbal Alex and Symone D. Sanders, who both have relationships in the progressive sphere, have been reaching out to leading liberal organizations, including groups that focus on immigrants’ rights and on climate.
The event followed weeks of discussion between the Biden and Sanders camps over how the two men could find common ground on Mr. Sanders’s key policy priorities. A day after Mr. Sanders left the presidential race, Mr. Biden announced that he was embracing several new, more progressive positions on matters including health care and education, in an explicit overture to Mr. Sanders’s base. Still, Mr. Sanders’s endorsement surprised many of the progressive grass-roots groups that had endorsed his candidacy and that are struggling with the prospect of the more moderate Mr. Biden becoming the Democratic nominee. Some worried that it undercut the leverage Mr. Sanders might have to persuade Mr. Biden to make progressive policy concessions.
This is a developing story and will be updated. “We want those task forces to be given real power in the campaign and in the party apparatus,” Mr. Weber, of the Sunrise Movement, said. “Not just gestures but real commitments.”
Astead W. Herndon contributed reporting. Throughout the campaign, Mr. Sanders had often referred to Mr. Biden as his “friend” and the two men have a personal relationship that has remained functional and intact. Even as the field dwindled, Mr. Sanders was reluctant to attack Mr. Biden directly and largely did so only for a brief spell near the end of his campaign that included the last debate — and only on policy.
It is not clear how much sway Mr. Sanders would have on Mr. Biden’s campaign decisions, including his potential cabinet or vice-presidential selections. In an interview on Friday with PBS NewsHour, Mr. Sanders acknowledged a preference for Mr. Biden to pick a more progressive running mate but said he had not weighed in on the choice.
“Joe is going to have to make that decision himself,” Mr. Sanders said.
Like a slapdash buddy skit, the joint appearance on Monday featured a back-and-forth whose levity offered a brief respite from the seriousness of a national health crisis. The two men seemed to delight in talking to each other — bantering away on subjects that generally sounded as if they had been cleared with campaign aides.
“Do you have any questions for me, Bernie?” Mr. Biden said, after both had gushed their effusive praise.
“I did, Joe,” he said.
Near the end, when Mr. Biden asked Mr. Sanders if there was anything else he wanted to do, Mr. Sanders quipped that they should “play some chess.”
“I’d like to play chess!” Mr. Biden said.
But Mr. Sanders was out of moves.
As Mr. Biden’s live stream drew to a close, a message popped up on his one-time rival’s video screen: “You are muted by host.”
Shane Goldmacher and Astead W. Herndon contributed reporting.