Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is laying the groundwork to launch a bigger presidential campaign than his first, as advisers predict that he would open the 2020 Democratic presidential primary season as a political powerhouse.
A final decision has not been made, but those closest to Mr. Sanders, 77, suggest that neither age nor interest from a glut of progressive presidential prospects would dissuade him from undertaking a second shot at the presidency. And as Mr. Sanders’s brain trust gathered for a retreat in Vermont over the weekend, some spoke openly about a 2020 White House bid.
“This time, he starts off as a frontrunner, or one of the frontrunners,” said Mr. Sanders’s 2016 campaign manager Jeff Weaver.
Mr. Weaver added, “It’ll be a much bigger campaign if he runs again, in terms of the size of the operation.”
Amid the enthusiasm — and there was plenty in Burlington as the Sanders Institute convened his celebrity supporters, former campaign staff and progressive policy leaders — there were also signs of cracks in Mr. Sanders’ political base. His loyalists are sizing up a prospective 2020 Democratic field likely to feature a collection of ambitious liberal leaders and not the establishment-minded Hillary Clinton.
Instead, a new generation of outspoken Democrats such as Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and California Sentor Kamala Harris are expected to seek the Democratic nomination. All three have embraced Sanders’ call for “Medicare for All” and a $15 minimum wage, among other policy priorities he helped bring into the Democratic mainstream in the Trump era.
Acknowledging the stark differences between the 2016 and 2020 fields, Hollywood star Danny Glover, who campaigned alongside Mr. Sanders in 2016, would not commit to a second Sanders’ candidacy when asked this weekend.
“I don’t know what 2020 looks like right now,” Mr. Glover said before taking a front-row seat for Mr. Sanders’ opening remarks. “I’m going to support who I feel to be the most progressive choice.”
One of Mr. Sanders’ chief supporters from neighboring New Hampshire, former state senate majority leader Burt Cohen, acknowledged that some people worry Mr. Sanders is too old for a second run, although that’s not a major concern of his. Like Mr. Glover, he’s not sure if he’ll join Mr. Sanders a second time.
“There are other people picking up the flag and holding it high, and you know, it could be Bernie, but I think there are other people as well,” said Mr. Cohen, who did not attend the Vermont summit. “It’s not ‘Bernie or bust.’ That’s certainly not the case.”
Another high-profile Sanders supporter who was in attendance, Cornel West, described the Vermont senator as “the most consistently progressive one out there,” suggesting that some would-be 2020 candidates have adopted Mr. Sanders’ words, but maintained ties to Wall Street and “militarism”.
Still, Mr. West conceded that none of likely 2020 candidates “have as much baggage” as Ms. Clinton did.
Perhaps the most important member of Mr. Sanders’s network, wife Jane O’Meara Sanders, said Democrats may be embracing his “bold progressive ideas” on health care and the economy in some cases, but there’s need to go further on issues like climate change, affordable housing and student debt. Whether her husband will lead the debate as a presidential candidate in 2020, she said, remains unclear. Ms. Sanders noted that one question above all others would guide their decision: “Who can beat Donald Trump?”
When asked if Mr. Sanders could win in 2020, she said “every single poll” showed that he would have beaten Republican nominee Donald Trump two years ago.
