Bernie Sanders: The Election and Beyond

by Katherine B. ‘22

As the upcoming 2020 presidential election approaches, it can get hard to keep up with all the news circulating around it. One of the biggest pieces of recent news is that Bernie Sanders, one of the leading Democratic candidates, suspended his campaign for president. 

By suspending his campaign, Sanders will no longer be actively vying for votes and participating in debates. However, his name will still remain on the ballot for the primary elections, in an effort to win more delegates for the Democratic National Convention. This could tip the election in the Democrats’ favor while also working to prevent a party split that could alter the trajectory of the election altogether. Sanders’ reason for suspending his campaign was fairly simple: he wasn’t getting enough votes in the primaries. That is not to say he wasn’t getting votes, but there just were  not enough to beat out Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders knew that catching up to Biden just wasn’t feasible, so he decided to suspend his campaign in order to better unify the Democratic party as the general election approaches.

Although Bernie Sanders is no longer in the running to be the next president, it is important to know what some of his past policies were, as they have had a strong influence on current politics. Sanders made the possibility of economic reforms a centerpiece of both of his presidential campaigns. According to Sanders’ campaign website, his goal is to “transform our economy to one that works for all of us and not just the one percent.” Much of his campaign is geared towards reforming the economy so that it no longer prioritizes money and the one percent over the wellbeing of the people, especially those in minority communities. The U.S. economy has developed in a way that forces a large portion of the population to put in exponentially more work just to make a fraction of the money that the 1% does. Along with general economic reforms, Sanders also wanted to raise the minimum wage to $15.

Another central point of Sanders’ campaigns, both in 2016 and 2020, was Democratic Socialism. Democratic Socialism is defined as a socialist economy — an economy in which the resources and means of production are publicly owned — with political democracy. In the 2016 election, Sanders was the only candidate campaigning for higher minimum wage and medicare-for-all. His early stance on these issues has allowed Sanders to be painted by the media as a pioneer in these issues. 

Bernie Sanders has also been involved in social justice activism for most of his life. Brought up in a working-class family in Brooklyn, Sanders drew inspiration for his economic activism from his family’s financial status. As a college student, Sanders involved himself in activism within the civil rights movement, taking part in sit-ins and protests. He was very active in working to protest the segregated off-campus housing at the University of Chicago, where Sanders was a student. Sanders has also worked to help the LGBTQ+ community and has spoken out against the death penalty. 

Moreover, Sanders’ has had a rich political career prior to his presidential campaign. He is currently on his 3rd term in the US Senate after being re-elected in 2018 and was Vermont’s sole Congressman for 16 years prior to his time in the Senate. Before his involvement in national politics, he was elected mayor of Burlington, VT in 1981. As mayor, he worked to make housing more affordable and to make taxation more progressive. These policies are much like the ones he proposed during his presidential campaigns. 

While Bernie Sanders may no longer be in the running for president, it is important to make yourself aware of prominent political figures such as Sanders, as many of his policies have influenced much of the current politics.