U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats and twice ran for the Democratic nomination for president, has refused to rule out another run for the White House in 2024, even as incumbent Joe Biden has repeatedly hinted he will run for a second term.
Sanders, who is 80, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this morning, and appeared to be a reliable ally of Joe Biden when he defended the embattled president’s American Recovery Plan and now-defeated Build Back Better legislation.
At the end of the interview, however, Sanders refused to rule out the possibility of a 2024 presidential run after interviewer Chuck Todd asked if he might make another run “if there’s an open race in 2024.”
“No politician I know rules out, you know, all options,” said Sanders. “Everything is on the table.”
He then clarified that, “Right now my focus is to do everything that I can to elect candidates to Congress who are going to stand up and fight for working families in this coming midterm election.”
Taking a more aggressive approach than the White House, Sanders also complained that Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have “sabotaged” Biden’s domestic agenda by refusing to vote to end the filibuster and pass far reaching economic reforms and abortion laws without Republican input.
“It should not be a head scratcher,” Sanders charged after being asked why key Democrat legislation keeps failing in the Senate. “You’ve got two members of the Senate, Sen. Manchin and Sen. Sinema, who have sabotaged what the president has been fighting for.”
Todd asked Sanders if “sabotage” was really the right word to explain the votes of Manchin and Sinema, who are largely considered to be vulnerable to electoral challenges from Republicans in their respective conservative-leaning states.
“You help me out with a better word here. You’ve got 48 Members of the Senate who wanted to go forward” on Build Back Better and codifying abortion into federal law, said Sanders. “You had two people who prevented us from doing it.”
“You have a better word than sabotage?” He added, “That’s fine, but I think that is the right word.”
Todd also asked Sanders about his previous support for pro-life Democrats who championed progressive issues. Sanders stopped short of saying that Democrats could not be pro-life, but took issue with Democrats for working to elect a Texas Democrat who is pro-life.
Sanders clarified that he is supporting the pro-abortion Democrat in that race.
Should Sanders announce another presidential run in 2024, it would mark his third attempt for the White House. He would be 85-years-old when taking office if elected.
