Sanders endorses 9 progressive House candidates

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed nine additional progressive congressional lawmakers and candidates on Wednesday.

The endorsements cover a string of races across the country, from New York to Texas to California. None are in particularly tight races, and most of the recipients have backed Sanders’s presidential bid.

Sanders endorse two candidates and seven lawmakers. The candidates are Jessica Cisneros, who is running Texas’s 28th District, and Georgette Gómez, who is running in California’s 53rd District; the lawmakers are Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ro Khanna (Calif.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Peter Welch (Vt.).

Sanders had previously announced his endorsements for Cori Bush in Missouri and Mari Newman in Illinois.

“This is the most important election in our lifetime and I’m proud there are so many candidates running for Congress who understand that real change comes from the bottom on up, not the top on down,” Sanders said in a statement. “They’re all strong advocates for real change and together we will build a movement to transform this nation so that it works for all our people.” 

Only Cisneros is in a primary against an incumbent. She has garnered the backing of several national progressive groups and is challenging Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who won reelection in 2018 by nearly 70 percent over his Libertarian challenger. 

Most of the newest endorsees have back Sanders’s presidential campaign, but not all — Pressley endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), her home-state senator and Sanders’s chief progressive rival in the 2020 primary field. 

Warren also endorsed four progressive House candidates Tuesday.

Sanders has centered his White House bid around a “political revolution,” often noting on the campaign trail the necessity of boosting congressional support for plans that would work to reduce systemic inequalities and drastically expand social safety nets.