Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sparred over campaign financing and super PACs at Sunday’s night’s Democratic debate.
Sanders hammered Biden over his refusal to disavow super PACs that have endorsed his presidential campaign, with the former vice president asserting the Vermont Independent has “nine super PACs” working for his campaign.
“You get rid of the nine super PACs you have?” Biden asked.
“I don’t have any super PACs,” Sanders responded.
“You want me to list them?” Biden shot back.
“Yeah, you go ahead and list them,” said Sanders.
Biden then exclaimed, “Oh, give me a break!”
“No, I won’t give you a break on this one. You’ve condemned super PACs. You’ve got a super PAC, and it’s running negative ads.”
It was unclear which groups Biden was referring to, though a number of issue-based organizations and their related super PACs have endorsed Sanders, including the immigration reform-supporting Dream Defenders Fight PAC and the environmental activism group Sunrise Movement PAC.
Our Revolution, a nonprofit that was founded by Sanders campaign surrogates after his failed 2016 White House bid, has actively supported the senator and candidates adjacent to his views, though the group is not registered as a super PAC and is instead a 501(c)(4).