Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders announced his intention to run for the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election. So far, he is the only real progressive challenger to Hillary Clinton. Elizabeth Warren isn’t running. We hope that Sanders will push the debate to engage with the needs of millions of Americans who are being left behind in an America dominated by corporations.
At Progressive Kick, we use the website ProgressivePunch.org, our cousin organization, to measure how progressive members of Congress are. Progressive Punch uses the collective voting record of a group of consistently progressive legislators – the “progressive cohort” contrasted with Republicans – as a standard to measure how progressive other members of Congress are in their votes. Since Progressive Punch first devised its algorithm to calculate progressive scores, Senator Sanders has always been a part of the progressive cohort due to his consistency and dedication to progressive values, particularly economic justice and the defense of working- and middle-class Americans.
He has tirelessly advocated on behalf of the 99%, and he does not take a back seat to anyone in his critique of what he calls “hypercapitalism.” While Hillary Clinton has clearly benefited personally from her close ties with the corporate world, Sanders has stated he will not take corporate contributions during his run and is deeply committed to narrowing the wealth and income gaps in our country. He has supported legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 and other policies to develop infrastructure to provide support and job opportunities to working-class people.
His progressive record includes co-sponsoring a bill to cap carbon emissions, voting against the Defense of Marriage Act, and repeatedly advocating for a universal single-payer healthcare system beyond the Affordable Care Act.
We’re under no illusions or delusions about the obstacles Sanders would have to overcome to win. But we at Progressive Kick enthusiastically endorse Bernie Sanders for President and eagerly look forward to his campaign. We’ll pitch in as we can.