Sanders endorses Keith Ellison for DNC chairman

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is endorsing Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, was an early supporter of Sanders’s Democratic primary bid. 

{mosads}The co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus has expressed interest in the DNC chairmanship for some time and according to a report from Politico, Ellison had previously reached out to Hillary Clinton campaign officials and state party chairmen.

Sanders told Minnesota Public Radio that he supports Ellison to fill the position of party chairman. 

He also told reporters that he hasn’t ruled out another presidential campaign, saying “four years is a long time from now.”

Sanders backed Clinton after dropping his presidential bid, and said, “She deserves an enormous amount of credit. She worked extraordinarily hard in this campaign.”

Of President-elect Donald Trump, Sanders said: “I hope I’m wrong, but I believe that he is a fraud, and I think despite all of his rhetoric about being a champion of the working class, it will turn out to be hollow,” according to MPR. 

In May, Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, named Ellison and Cornel West to the party’s Platform Drafting Committee in an effort to make his mark on the Democratic agenda after panning Rep. Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), then the chairwoman of the DNC, for failing to include enough of his supporters in the process. 

Wasserman Schultz resigned as DNC chairwoman after WikiLeaks published emails showing bias against Sanders during the presidential primary process. Donna Brazile took over as interim chairwoman and has since faced scrutiny after further WikiLeaks releases showed she had shared a question with Clinton prior to a CNN town-hall event during the primary.

Sanders told MPR he has not yet considered whether he’ll hold a leadership position in the Senate Democratic Conference.