Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders., reacts to a fist waving supporter as he speaks at a campaign rally Monday, April 11, in Buffalo, N.Y. | AP Photo Bernie begins raising cash for down-ballot progressives

Bernie Sanders is raising money for a trio of progressive House candidates who have endorsed him, a move that comes just weeks after he faced friendly fire for not committing to fundraise for down-ballot Democrats.

In the fundraising emails, backers are given an opportunity to split their donation between Sanders and the local candidate.


The trio of candidates — New York's Zephyr Teachout, Nevada’s Lucy Flores, and Washington state’s Pramila Jayapal — is running in primaries that pit them against more establishment-aligned foes. Each has the backing of liberal groups like Democracy for America, and one of Flores’ opponents, for example, was endorsed by Harry Reid.

“Zephyr literally wrote the book on political corruption. She understands better than anybody how special interests try to buy off politicians, and she’s dedicated her life to fixing our broken political system,” reads the email for Teachout, a professor who unsuccessfully challenged Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a 2014 primary. Each email contains similar praise for the candidate in question.

Sanders’ move comes after months of scrutiny of his relationship with down-ballot Democrats. While he, like Hillary Clinton, has signed a joint fundraising agreement with the Democratic National Committee, he had not raised money for others, while Clinton raised millions for the DNC and a wide array of state Democratic parties, including $15 million so far in 2016. But given Sanders’ fundraising prowess — he has raised $109 million in 2016 alone — some Democrats have chafed at his lack of effort on behalf of other candidates.

When pressed on his plans to raise money for other Democrats in late March by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Sanders simply said, “Well, we’ll see."

Clinton, meanwhile, has started to amp up her pressure on Sanders over his ties to the party he recently joined after decades as an independent, even appearing to specifically jab his lack of down-ballot fundraising while campaigning in Wisconsin before its primary.

“I am also a Democrat and have been a proud Democrat all my adult life,” she said in Eau Claire just three days before voting. “And I think that’s kind of important if we’re selecting someone to be the Democratic nominee of the Democratic Party."

“I know how important it is to elect state legislators, to elect Democratic governors, to elect a Democratic Senate and House of Representatives,” she added.

Clinton is set to attend a high-dollar fundraising event for her own joint fundraising committee with the DNC and state parties this weekend, a California dinner hosted by George and Amal Clooney that Sanders has targeted as indicative of her relationship with big money.

