Bernie Sanders
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who describes himself as a
democratic socialist and caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, confirmed on
Thursday Wednesday that
he'll run for president as a Democrat. In an interview with the Associated Press, Sanders offered an explicitly populist, progressive message:
"What we have seen is that while the average person is working longer hours for lower wages, we have seen a huge increase in income and wealth inequality, which is now reaching obscene levels," Sanders told the AP.
"This is a rigged economy, which works for the rich and the powerful, and is not working for ordinary Americans. ... You know, this country just does not belong to a handful of billionaires."
Sanders is the second prominent Democrat to officially announce a campaign, following former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sanders insists that he's not running merely in the hopes of pushing Clinton to the left or raising awareness for liberal issues, but national primary polls show him
averaging just 6 percent; Clinton is at 61.