Sen. Bernie Sanders has endorsed President Joe Biden and confirmed that he would not run against him in the Democratic Primary for the 2024 election.
In an interview with the Associated Press released on Tuesday, Sanders said he intends to “do everything I can to see the president is reelected.”
“The last thing this country needs is a Donald Trump or some other right-wing demagogue who is going to try to undermine American democracy or take away a woman’s right to choose, or not address the crisis of gun violence, or racism, sexism or homophobia,” Sanders said in an interview. “So, I’m in to do what I can to make sure that the president is reelected.”
Biden formally announced his intention to run for reelection on Tuesday.
In addition to saying he will not challenge Biden, Sanders urged other progressives to follow his lead and stay out of the race.
“People will do what they want to do,” Sanders told the outlet while speaking about other potential primary challengers. “I think Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee. And my job, and I think the progressive movement’s job, is to make certain that he stands up and fights for the working class of this country and does not take anything for granted.”
At 81 years old, it is now extremely improbable that Sanders, a darling of the Democratic Socialists, will ever seek the presidential nomination again. He had made massive waves in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, and again in 2020 against Biden.
Sanders had seemed to be the frontrunner for the 2020 nomination, until the other candidates rallied around Biden.
“Running for president was a wonderful privilege,” Sanders said. “I enjoyed it very much and I hope we had some impact on the nature of American politics. But right now, my job is to do what I can as chairman of the (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) committee, to see Biden gets reelected and to see what I can do to help transform policy in America to help protect the needs of workers.”
According to the report, Sanders said that it was “too early to say what specific role he would play in helping Biden win reelection in 2024.”
