Ex-campaign manager: Sanders is considering a second White House bid

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is considering another run for the White House in 2020, according to his former campaign manager.

Jeff Weaver, Sanders’s senior adviser and 2016 campaign manager, said in an interview Tuesday on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” that a second bid is under consideration.

Sanders, he said, is “is considering another run for the presidency.”

“When the time comes I think we’ll have an answer to that,” Weaver said. “But right now he’s still considering it.”

WATCH: Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, says @SenSanders is “considering another run for the presidency” pic.twitter.com/VvGbDqfyTz

— Washington Journal (@cspanwj) May 29, 2018

{mosads}Weaver’s comments come about a week after Sanders announced he would run for a third term in the Senate this year. Sanders said that if he were reelected, he would fight against President Trump and Republicans.

“These are frightening and unprecedented times,” Sanders said in a string of tweets after making his announcement. “We have a president who is not only a pathological liar, but someone who is trying to win votes by dividing our nation up based on the color of our skin, our country of origin, our religion, our gender or our sexual orientation.

“If reelected, you can be sure that I will continue to be the fiercest opponent in the Senate to the rightwing extremism of Trump and the Republican leadership.” 

If reelected, you can be sure that I will continue to be the fiercest opponent in the Senate to the rightwing extremism of Trump and the Republican leadership.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 21, 2018

Another White House bid by Sanders, 76, wouldn’t be a surprise given his nationwide following. Sanders was a surprisingly tough challenger to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary, becoming a sensation on the left — particularly with young voters.

More people under age 30 voted for Sanders in the 2016 primaries than Trump and Clinton combined, according to The Washington Post.

In 2020, however, he could have competition from left-of-center Democrats including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Kamala Harris (Calif.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), all of whom are thought to be considering White House runs. 

Sanders was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1990 and to the Senate in 2006, and he is expected to easily reclaim his seat in the midterms.