Sanders won’t promise to serve full Senate term as he considers 2020 run

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declined to pledge to serve a full six-year term if he is reelected this November, as is expected.

“Right now, my focus is on the year 2018, but if you’re asking me to make an absolute pledge as to whether I’ll be running for president or not, I’m not going to make that pledge. The simple truth is I have not made that decision. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I may not run. I may. But on the other hand, I may not,” he said at a forum Monday night in Vermont.

{mosads}“If I’m elected president of the United States? Mmm. Probably impossible to be a senator and a president at the same time. So the answer to that is probably no. But I haven’t made that decision as to whether I’ll run … If I run and win, the likelihood is I will not be Vermont’s senator” he responded when asked again if he would commit to serving a full term. 

Sanders ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016 for the Democratic presidential nomination. Though he lost, he lit a fire underneath the progressive wing of the party.

Should Sanders run in 2020, he would likely join a crowded Democratic field.

Sanders himself has visited crucial states in a presidential campaign such as Iowa, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

Other potential Democratic contenders in 2020 have also traveled widely, including former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).