Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said on Sunday that his team is “looking at” a possible 2020 White House bid, but they want to ensure that he is the “strongest candidate” who can defeat President Trump before making a final decision.
“I will make that decision at the appropriate time,” Sanders said on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton.”
{mosads}“And I will be honest with you, you are a friend,” he said, addressing Sharpton. “You know, we’re looking at it. But it’s a decision that impacts your family. And I want to make sure that when I make that decision, if I decide to run, that I have concluded, in fact, that I am the strongest candidate who can defeat Donald Trump.”
“We’ve got some great people out there who are thinking of running,” Sanders added. “They are my friends. And I’ve got to make that decision that, based on my background, based on my past, based on my ideas that, in fact, I am the candidate that can defeat Trump.”
Sanders is one of more than a dozen Democrats eyeing a bid for the presidency.
His 2016 presidential campaign mobilized progressive voters who resonated with his brand of self-defined democratic socialism, but former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ultimately won the party’s nomination.
The Vermont independent during the midterm elections campaigned for progressive Democrats across the country.
Sanders is one of Trump’s most outspoken critics in the Senate, more than once calling him the “most racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted president in history.”
A Politico/Morning Consult presidential primary poll last week had former Vice President Joe Biden and Sanders leading the pack of Democrats, with former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) in third place.
Other possible 2020 contenders include Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).