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At the beginning of last year, Bernie Sanders met with his closest advisors to talk about the future. If he was running for president again, he told him, he would probably perform well enough in the early states to have a chance to take control of the Democratic nomination in March 2020. Then, he should make new friends – the kind he had not had, or seemed to want, in 2016.
Sanders could end up winning tight contests with 35% or less, explained councilor Mark Longabaugh, one of the many speakers to make presentations. Once the dust settles, Sanders should reach out to the Democratic leaders with whom he has collided and consolidate the party behind him. The senator, typically, listened with a poker head at a private meeting, according to three participants who, like others, spoke under the guise of anonymity. He says nothing, keeping all his thoughts on it.
More than a year later, Sanders is running for the second time as president. More and more Democrats are skeptical of Vermont's independent party's desire to unite a party whose cracks have widened and multiplied since its insurgency campaign against Hillary Clinton.
In some ways, Sanders was not able or willing to go beyond this deadly race, a stance that gives him a kinship with President Trump, while limiting his embrace among Democrats.
He frequently returns to his biggest triumphs and obstacles of 2016 in his speeches. He recently criticized a Democratic-oriented think tank led by a Clinton ally, in part because of his leadership in 2016. He also held Clinton and other Democrats in sight at a distance, upsetting some associates who were hoping that warmer relations would send a positive signal. the party.
But 2020 announces itself as a different breed, raising questions about Sanders' strategy, which is becoming central to the Democratic competition. Unlike the last time, he is in no hurry: he is now a leader in fundraising and opinion polls. And this is not a two-way competition: it has become a royal battle with 18 means with a field that develops from week to week.
Reverend Al Sharpton, left, and Reverend W. Franklyn Richardson join Sanders at the National Action Network's annual conference in New York on April 5, 2019. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
Many Democrats see Sanders as a candidate for the loyal political base that he built in 2016 – liberal voters animated by his democratic socialist crusade to attack the rich and the powerful – which could have happened. to prove valuable in a very dense field. They wonder if he can expand his support in the coming months and, most importantly, if he is able to unify the party, should he win the nomination.
"Is his support currently higher or higher than he had in 2018 or in 2016? You know, it's hard to say yes, "said former Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, a Democrat who served with Sanders.
Sanders' senior aides claim that any tension with Democrats comes from party wings openly hostile to the senator and his political ideas, not the other way around. They note that he's committed to strongly supporting the eventual Democratic candidate and that he is motivated to do whatever it takes to help the party defeat Trump, this that he has argued publicly and privately. They exhort his skeptics to make the same commitment.
"The other members of the donor class must respond: are you fully engaged, regardless of the outcome of the nomination process?", Said Ari Rabin-Havt, Sanders Campaign Cabinet Director.
The Sanders campaign recently sought to monetize the growing concern that traditional Democratic power brokers are beginning to express about its rise, sending fundraising emails in recent days as part of a fundraising drive. hours. Rather than calm anxiety, he sought to profit from it.
Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in the Los Angeles Grand Park on March 23, 2019. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
"Some of the biggest players in Washington are frantically wondering how to stop," wrote Sanders in one of the emails. "You have career political agents who beg the money from the financial elite for them to start new efforts to derail our movement."
If the dynamic reminds the tone of 2016, Sanders campaign speeches are specific reminders of this race. He regularly points out that he has received more votes from young people than Clinton and Trump put together. Earlier this month, in Michigan, he boasted about the magnitude of his surprise win in the primary.
Sanders also likes to explain how some of his political ideas were considered radical in 2016 and that they are suddenly more fashionable. "Well," said Sanders at a rally in Wisconsin, "I think it's fair to say things have changed."
For many supporters of Sanders, this is precisely why he is so attractive. He always talks about the issues he's been defending for many years, with the same perverse behavior that he's been exposing for a long time. He is always combative, even when he climbs the Democratic hierarchy without joining the party he seeks to lead.
This approach masks some small signs that Sanders is trying to break through among the Democratic leaders who favored Clinton's creative campaign last time.
In 2017, Jeff Weaver, a close confidant of Sanders, met with three members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the Democratic Club in Washington, according to two people close to the rally. The members were representatives James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio) and Cedric L. Richmond (D-La.).
This led to a familiarization dinner at an Italian restaurant located at Capitol Hill for Sanders and Richmond, according to one of the individuals who requested anonymity to describe the private gatherings.
Reverend Al Sharpton, a prominent black activist, had lunch with Sanders in Harlem during the last campaign. Sanders gave Sharpton his cell phone number, Sharpton recalled, adding that he had contacted the senator on issues such as the Markeis McGlockton shooting in Florida last year and efforts to repeal the Florida law. .
Randi Weingarten, president of the powerful Clinton Teachers' Federation and supporter in 2016, said she would never forget a conversation she had with Sanders in 2017. Sanders had heard that She had traveled to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. she saw, said Weingarten. She was struck by her keen interest and determination to improve the recovery effort.
"I think this has been a real turning point in the work we have done together," said Weingarten, who recently hosted a town hall meeting with Sanders, the first of a series of events that will take place. she hopes to organize with other candidates.
However, Sanders also made it clear that he had limits to his willingness to adopt a party structure that had largely played against him in 2016.
Sanders was upset by articles published by ThinkProgress, a project of an independent affiliate. His campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said Sanders "also remembers 2016" of how the organization has faced policy.
Tanden issued a statement that she had no editorial control over ThinkProgress, but she expressed concern about a video that Sanders opposed – a move that helped mitigate tensions between the two parties.
Shakir said that Sanders had attended a CAP conference in 2018 to form more harmonious relationships, but only to deal with what he saw as new hostility.
"He said, okay, well, I made an effort, and then you decide to go in that direction. What is happening here? Said Shakir.
Sanders has also shown no public desire to talk to Clinton, who remains fond of many Democrats. Many Clinton allies remained cold with Sanders, and some openly welcomed him in media interviews. Some Sanders allies would like to see a thaw.
"One thing that could be healthy for the Democratic Party is that Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton meet and define the common goal of defeating Donald Trump," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D- Calif.) President of the Sanders Campaign.
There was some bursts of enmity towards Clinton in the crowd that Sanders drew during a recent surge in the Midwest states where she lost to Trump. They complained that Clinton had not campaigned enough, accused his allies of trying to undermine Sanders and, in the case of a man, had uttered a secular insult bearing his name.
But other Sanders supporters were ready to put an end to the conflicts of the past.
"We have to look beyond that," said Pat McFarland, 68, a retired nurse from Croydon, Pennsylvania, who applauded Sanders' speech during a speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. . our country."
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