PHILADELPHIA — Senate Democratic leaders aren’t quite ready for Sen. Bernie Sanders to get off the campaign trail.
Officials from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) are actively courting the Vermonter to get involved in some of their toughest races this fall as they seek to win back the majority.
{mosads}“We’re working with him to see how we can help, where he can be helpful,” Sadie Weiner, the DSCC’s communications director, said at a briefing in downtown Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Christie Roberts, political director for the DSCC, said the group is specifically eying the Wisconsin Senate race between GOP incumbent Ron Johnson and former Sen. Russ Feingold, the Democratic nominee.
Sanders was a fundraising powerhouse during his run for the White House, amassing millions of dollars from a passionate small-donor network.
“I think just beyond fundraising help, I think that’s a place where he could have a presence,” Roberts said of Wisconsin.
Sanders’s potential role as a Democratic surrogate comes at a delicate time for the party. Just before the Democratic National Convention began on Monday, a massive email leak showed that prominent, pro-Hillary Clinton party leaders had conspired against him during the primary.
Despite the uproar over those emails, Sanders gave Clinton a full-throated endorsement Monday night, and he has worked to tamp down outbursts and booing from his supporters during the convention.