A New York congressman said there’s a chorus telling Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that if he want to run for the Democratic presidential ticket again he needs to register as a Dem.
Sanders is the longest-serving independent in congressional history; the other indie in the Senate, Angus King (I-Maine), like Sanders caucuses with the Democrats.
The Sanders campaign reported Wednesday that since launching his 2020 bid Tuesday, the senator has raised $6 million. Sanders’ launch video was viewed more than 8.335 million times across various social media platforms, the campaign added.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) was asked on CNN this morning whether he agrees with National Review’s Rich Lowry, who wrote that “among the flaws on Sanders resume for many progressives is one that he can do nothing about – he is a white male, and an old one. Sanders is burdened by his utter lack of intersectionality.”
“Look, the difference for me is Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat. So I don’t understand why Bernie Sanders, who does not want to become a member of the Democratic Party, runs as a Democrat. We’ve asked him on a continuous basis if, in fact, you want to be the Democratic nominee you should be a Democrat,” Meeks said. “If you’re not a Democrat you should not run. He should run as an independent.”
“He’s not a Democrat, so to me I wouldn’t allow a Republican to run as a Democrat, for the Democratic nominee.”
That doesn’t mean Sanders shouldn’t be allowed to vie for the nomination, Meeks said, but “he should be a Democrat — I think that he should say if he wants to be a Democrat, he should register in the Democratic Party and then you can talk about running and to be my representative.”
“I want a Democrat to be my representative as president of the United States and be my nominee,” he added.
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