On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stated that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) is who he wanted 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris to pick and Walz has “passed some very good legislation.”
CNN host asked, “[Y]ou actually wanted Vice President Harris to pick Gov. Walz as her running mate. What did you make of their debut tonight in Philadelphia?”
Sanders responded, “Well, it sounded very good. And the reason that I wanted Gov. Walz is, as you know, he comes from a rural state. He has been a champion of the working class. He’s passed some very good legislation. And at a time when we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, while 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck and the very, very rich are getting much richer, I think the American people want somebody who’s going to stand up for them and take on powerful special interests. And I think that Gov. Walz is the person to do that.”
He added, “And the other thing that I am impressed by the Governor, and others have said this, this is a guy who was a public school high school teacher, … he was a football coach, he was the ranking member of the Veterans’ Committee in the U.S. House, and we certainly want somebody at the highest levels of government who’s going to be fighting for the veterans of this country.”
Sanders continued, “And, very significantly, as the Governor of the state of Minnesota — and the reason that he’s popular is — he has been pro-labor. He has helped raise the minimum wage for gig workers. He has made sure that children in Minnesota do not go hungry. Now, some people may think that’s a radical idea, I don’t. And I think one of the misunderstanding[s] that exists in the corporate media and in the political establishment is that standing up for working people, expanding Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and vision, expanding Social Security so that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes into the system so we could raise benefits, that ain’t radical. More than 70% of the American people want programs like that, including a majority of Republicans. So, I think to the degree that the Vice President and the Governor can stay focused on economic issues that benefit working people, demand that the billionaire class start paying their fair share of taxes, I think they’re going to, not only win, I think they have a chance to win pretty big.”
Sanders also responded to criticisms from Republicans that Walz is a radical leftist by stating that “if Gov. Walz believes, for example, that we should cut the price of prescription drugs in this country in half to what they are around the rest of the world, over 70% of the American people believe that. You want to attack him for being radical? I’ll help pay for the ad. Walz believes we should cut prescription drugs in half, vote for Trump. I don’t think so. The American people overwhelmingly believe, as the Governor does, that we should raise the minimum wage to a living wage. If the Republicans want to attack Walz and Kamala Harris for wanting to raise the minimum wage, I’ll help contribute to those advertisements. So, I think this whole narrative that, if you stand up for working-class families, it’s somehow a negative, is totally absurd.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett