Ex-rival Sanders backs Biden to challenge Trump
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
February 01, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 01, 2023
Ex-rival Sanders backs Biden to challenge Trump

Politics

Reuters
14 April, 2020, 09:30 am
Last modified: 14 April, 2020, 09:36 am

Related News

  • Biden reelection bid not official, but fundraising to begin
  • Joe Biden to select Jeff Zients as next chief of staff
  • Top Biden aide Ron Klain expected to soon leave White House
  • Six more classified docs found in Justice Dept search of Biden home
  • Biden willing to discuss debt ceiling with Republican leader as default looms

Ex-rival Sanders backs Biden to challenge Trump

Biden responded by terming Sanders "the most powerful voice for a fair and more just America”

Reuters
14 April, 2020, 09:30 am
Last modified: 14 April, 2020, 09:36 am
Democratic 2020 US presidential candidates Senator Bernie Sanders shakes hands with former Vice President Joe Biden after the tenth Democratic 2020 presidential debate at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina, US February 25, 2020/ Reuters
Democratic 2020 US presidential candidates Senator Bernie Sanders shakes hands with former Vice President Joe Biden after the tenth Democratic 2020 presidential debate at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina, US February 25, 2020/ Reuters

Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday endorsed his longtime rival former Vice President Joe Biden, a move aimed at unifying a Democratic Party long fractured along moderate and liberal lines ahead of the election match-up against President Donald Trump.

Sanders cited the novel coronavirus outbreak as a reason for the party to come together behind Biden, the likely Democratic presidential nominee after the progressive firebrand Sanders suspended his White House campaign.

Sanders' endorsement during an online campaign event came as Biden's team had already begun reaching out to advocacy groups on the left to enlist their support for the November 3 general election battle against the Republican Trump.

Before the pandemic brought the Democratic primary contest to a virtual halt, Biden had built up a commanding delegate edge over Sanders, leading the US senator from Vermont to declare last week he saw no viable path to the nomination.

Even so, it remained unclear how soon Sanders, who is especially popular with liberal young voters, would rally behind Biden, whose support comes chiefly from the party's older moderates.

Sanders' quick move to back Biden made for a stark contrast to 2016, when Sanders waited until the eve of the summer Democratic National Convention to support the then-nominee, Hillary Clinton.

In the online event, Sanders called on Democrats, independents and Republicans "to come together in this campaign to support (Biden's) candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe ... is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country."

Biden responded by terming Sanders "the most powerful voice for a fair and more just America."

With social distancing in widespread effect, Biden has been forced to move the bulk of his campaign to online events and has watched as the global pandemic had relegated the US presidential race to the back burner.

The Sanders endorsement gives him a much-needed jolt of energy and attention.

As the last two standing in a bruising Democratic primary, Biden and Sanders represented the conflict raging within the party between its moderate and liberal wings, with moderates claiming expansive progressive policies would alienate centrist voters needed to beat Trump.

But Biden and Sanders, contemporaries who both have served in the Senate, largely treated each other with civility, even when some on the left wanted Sanders to be more critical of Biden's moderate approach.

"We've disagreed," Biden said on Monday, "but we've been friends."

Biden said he and Sanders would develop six policy working groups on issues including the economy, education, criminal justice, immigration and climate change to develop solutions to problems the United States faces.

Trump's re-election campaign used Sanders' endorsement to argue that Biden had moved too far left.

"This is further proof that even though Bernie Sanders won't be on the ballot in November, his issues will be," Trump's campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement.

Olive Branches

Biden and his campaign had been reaching out to Sanders and his aides for weeks before he dropped out. Biden and Sanders spoke personally, and Biden had avoided suggesting that Sanders should exit the race, according to a person familiar with that conversation.

Biden's campaign also had some lower-level talks with the Sanders campaign that included efforts to make clear that there was room for his ideas in Biden's general election campaign, according to another person familiar with the matter.

That included conversation between a top Biden aide, Anita Dunn, and a counterpart with Sanders, Jeff Weaver. Neither could be reached for comment on Monday.

The person said Biden would not be likely to adopt a wide swath of Sanders' policies wholesale, such as Medicare for All, with which Biden does not agree.

Yet in recent days, in a clear bid to woo Sanders' supporters, Biden endorsed expanding access to Medicare, forgiving some student debt and making public colleges free for families making $125,000 or less.

Biden's campaign also reached out in recent weeks to progressive groups, including the Sanders-endorsing Working Families Party to court their support, according to people familiar with those conversations.

Some activists said they were encouraged both by Sanders' rapid endorsement, as well as the former rivals' pledge to work together on key issues.

Sarah Audelo, executive director of Alliance for Youth Action, said the new working groups could help prove Biden is willing to bring on advisers with progressive bona fides in areas such as climate change and immigration.

But she said the onus remains on Biden to engage young voters who were drawn to Sanders' agenda.

"We need to see the vice president making a real effort to bring young voters in," she said. "It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when candidates say young people won't vote and then fail to target them."

World+Biz / Top News

Bernie Sanders / Joe Biden / US Democrats / US 2020 election / us politics / 2020 Democratic race

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Will reform pledges to IMF work this time?
    Will reform pledges to IMF work this time?
  • Infographic: TBS
    How to redirect inward remittances to formal channels
  • Photo: TBS
    By-polls in BNP MPs' vacant seats: Candidate claims AL men intimidating voters in Chapainawabganj

MOST VIEWED

  • Former Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan. Photo: Collected
    Imran Khan to contest from 33 seats in Pakistan National Assembly bypoll
  • A voter casts his ballot at a polling station during the second round of the parliamentary election in Tunis, Tunisia January 29, 2023. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
    Tunisians elect weakened parliament on 11% turnout
  • British Minister without Portfolio Nadhim Zahawi looks on outside the Conservative Party's headquarters in London, Britain January 23, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
    UK PM Sunak fires party chairman Zahawi after breach of ministerial code
  • Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he attends a rally in Warren, Michigan, U.S., October 1, 2022. REUTERS/Chery Dieu-Nalio/File Photo
    Trump warns 2024 election 'our one shot' to save America
  • Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop unveiling his leadership team, while standing next to US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), at the South Carolina State House in Columbia, South Carolina, US, January 28, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
    Trump kicks off campaign with low-key events in New Hampshire, South Carolina
  • FILE - Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during a news conference in Shaukat Khanum hospital, where is being treated for a gunshot wound in Lahore, Pakistan, on Nov. 4, 2022. Imran Khan says a protest march toward the capital Islamabad suspended after he was wounded by a gun shot in an apparent attempt on his life will resume Tuesday. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudhry)
    Imran Khan claims ex-President Zardari behind new plot to assassinate him

Related News

  • Biden reelection bid not official, but fundraising to begin
  • Joe Biden to select Jeff Zients as next chief of staff
  • Top Biden aide Ron Klain expected to soon leave White House
  • Six more classified docs found in Justice Dept search of Biden home
  • Biden willing to discuss debt ceiling with Republican leader as default looms

Features

An elderly couple's lonely battle to save Dhaka's trees

An elderly couple's lonely battle to save Dhaka's trees

1h | Panorama
Infographic: TBS

How to redirect inward remittances to formal channels

2h | Panorama
Photo: Bloomberg

How the 'madoffs of Manhattan' can unravel Gautam Adani's empire

1h | Panorama
Photo: Collected

Tips to incorporate sustainable construction

1d | Habitat

More Videos from TBS

Adani’s shares fell sharply after allegation

Adani’s shares fell sharply after allegation

15h | TBS World
Why Messi was blocked on Instagram?

Why Messi was blocked on Instagram?

14h | TBS SPORTS
Who will benefit if the Buriganga Rail Bridge is opened?

Who will benefit if the Buriganga Rail Bridge is opened?

12h | TBS Stories
Bangladesh in better position than Sri Lanka, Pakistan to navigate forex crisis: UCB Asset Management

Bangladesh in better position than Sri Lanka, Pakistan to navigate forex crisis: UCB Asset Management

17h | TBS Insight

Most Read

1
Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!
Bangladesh

Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!

2
Photo: Collected
Energy

8 Ctg power plants out of production

3
Photo: Saqlain Rizve
Bangladesh

Bangladeshi university students identified as problematic users of Facebook, internet: Study

4
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

5
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

6
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]