As they weigh their options, activists are already working to push Biden to the left on key issues. And he is amenable to the idea because he will likely need them to defeat President Donald Trump in November.
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled plans to expand eligibility for Medicare and forgive college debt for millions of Americans, as the former vice president begins courting progressives who lost their leader whenBiden's swift move to shore up his left flank underscores the difficult choice many progressives were left after Sanders abandoned his presidential bid: Side with the more centrist former vice president or keep up the fight and potentially lose the White House again.
Such sentiment could be a hurdle for a party desperate to defeat Trump. If Biden can't bridge the ideological divide, he risks heading into the fall with the same vulnerabilities as Hillary Clinton in 2016. But if he gives too much to progressives, he could be portrayed as a far-leftist, an argument the Trump campaign is already trying to make.
RoseAnn Demoro, a close friend of Sanders and former head of the National Nurses United union, predicted Biden would make concessions on tuition-free college, labor and the environment, but not go as far as she and other activists wanted on health care. That leaves her unsure whether Sanders' supporters can be moved.“The calculation is, this base has nowhere to go but Biden because of Trump," she said."But if history teaches anything, a lot of the base sat it out last time.
“The question is, will Joe Biden increase voter turnout, be able achieve significant levels of voter enthusiasm, be able to achieve significant levels of individual volunteerism and small dollar donations and the type of enthusiastic voter to voter communication,” Mitchell said. “That is a political question that Joe Biden has to answer, and it can’t be done simply through rhetorical flourishes.”
The movement's next leaders might focus on building bridges with moderates rather than burning them — an approach Warren and Ocasio-Cortez have more closely adopted than some top Sanders supporters.
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