Updated May 6th, 2024 at 23:33 IST
US Elections: 82-Year-Old Bernie Sanders Aiming for 4th Term as Independent Senator
Sanders, a three-term Independent Senator from Vermont, called the 2024 US election "the most consequential election in our lifetimes."
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Eighty-two-year-old liberal US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont announced Monday that he is running for re-election, saying American democracy is in question during difficult times for the country and the world.
Sanders, seeking a fourth Senate term, is an independent. He was a Democratic congressman for 16 years and still caucuses with the Democrats.
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In an announcement video, he said that in many ways the 2024 election “is the most consequential election in our lifetimes.”
“Will the United States continue to even function as a democracy, or will we move to an authoritarian form of government?” he said.
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He questioned whether the country would reverse what he called “the unprecedented level of income and wealth inequality” and if it could create a government that works for all, and not a political system not dominated by wealthy campaign contributors.
“I have been, and will be if re-elected, in a strong position to provide the kind of help that Vermonters need in these difficult times,” Sanders said in a review of his positions as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and a member of the Senate Democratic leadership team, as well as a senior member of various other committees.
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Sanders sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He said a year ago that he would forgo another presidential bid and endorse Joe Biden’s reelection this year.
On a current controversial topic, Sanders, who has been critical of the war in Gaza, said Israel has the right to defend itself against the October 7, “horrific” attack and hostage-taking by the terrorist organisation Hamas “but it did not and does not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people, which is exactly what it is doing.”
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“In my view, US taxpayers should not be providing billions more to the extremist Netanyahu government to continue its devastating war against the Palestinian people,” he said.
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Published May 6th, 2024 at 23:33 IST