The reluctance of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ former aides to embrace another Sanders campaign reflects what’s expected to be a sprawling field of Democrats, many of them on the left. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Elections Bernie 2016 alums wary of 2020 sequel A large contingent of his former staffers is looking to other candidates to carry the torch.

Bernie Sanders has a problem as he decides whether to run in 2020: Many of his former staffers are looking elsewhere.

With the Vermont senator kicking off a nine-state tour on Friday with stops in Iowa, South Carolina, Nevada and California, a sizable contingent of the people who helped build his insurgent 2016 campaign is ambivalent about a second run, according to interviews with more than a dozen former staffers. Many of them are looking for a different progressive champion to finish what Sanders started.


Sanders should just declare victory, they said, content in the knowledge that much of his 2016 platform has been adopted by other ambitious Democrats considering White House bids. Plus, he’s a white man who would turn 80 in his first year as president, who’d be trying to lead a diverse party fueled by the energy of young voters, women and people of color.

“I think that if a younger candidate can pick up the mantle and have Bernie’s support, I think that would be a better option for 2020. I feel like 60 to 70 percent of former staffers are looking around for another Bernie-esque candidate this time around, even if it’s not him,” said Daniel Deriso, a field organizer for Sanders’ 2016 campaign who went on to help run a successful insurgent mayoral campaign in Birmingham, Ala., last year. “But if Bernie called me to have me work on the campaign then I’d do it.”

In many ways, Sanders is a victim of his own success. His lightning-in-a-bottle 2016 campaign helped move his ambitious proposals into the mainstream — ideas such as “Medicare for all,” a $15 minimum wage and debt-free college. The reluctance of former aides to embrace another campaign reflects what’s expected to be a sprawling field of Democrats stampeding left — unlike the binary Hillary or Bernie choice during most of the Democratic primary two years ago.

Morning Score newsletter Your guide to the permanent campaign — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Still, even Sanders supporters who are skeptical of a 2020 run say it’s unclear who, if anyone, could carry the torch. Elizabeth Warren is often discussed, but multiple former Sanders staffers were dubious about her potential campaign after watching her attempt to defuse President Donald Trump's attacks on her past claims of Native American ancestry this week.

“All the former staff I’ve talked to agree Bernie should focus on making sure the nominee is someone who continues what he started,” said Keegan Goudiss, Sanders’ digital advertising director in 2016 and the CEO of Revolution Messaging, the progressive digital consulting firm that became a home for former Sanders staffers. “It’s a sure thing that he will be able to influence 2020 from the outside. But if he decides to run, I doubt many former staffers will return unless directly asked to. Either way, he misses capturing energy if he doesn't decide soon.”

Goudiss is not alone in detecting that Sanders folks are looking around at other 2020 candidates.

“I’ve had a few people reach out and be like, ‘How do I reach out to Warren?’” said one former Sanders staffer. “Some of the Sanders stalwarts, not just staff but high-profile supporters, aren’t necessarily in the bag for 2020.”



Included in that group is fellow democratic socialist and congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was an organizer for Sanders in 2016. Sanders, however, did not endorse her successful primary challenge to powerful Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.).

“She’ll see what the field looks like,” said Corbin Trent, Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director. “She’s focused on 2018, [Bernie’s] focused on 2018. We’re all focused on 2018.”

Enough fervent supporters — from the 2016 campaign’s top officials to field organizers — are wary of a 2020 run that it could be difficult to reignite the 2016 movement. Jeff Weaver, who managed the 2016 race, has been talking about the idea of a “Draft Bernie PAC” of sorts after the midterms. But many supporters have been noncommittal, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

Weaver dismissed the notion that enthusiasm for a Sanders sequel has waned.

“I’ve spoken with a number of people who are interested in a draft-Bernie movement,” Weaver said. “My email is full and my voicemail is full of former Bernie staffers who are eager to come back should he run.”

But some people in the highest tiers of the Sanders hierarchy have already signaled they aren’t up for another go-round. His longtime chief of staff, Michaeleen Earle Crowell, who gained some notoriety for playing Hillary Clinton in debate prep during the 2016 primary, left Sanders’ Senate office this past summer to work for a private lobbying firm, a move that caught some people in Sanders’ orbit off guard.

“I hope Bernie does run for president again, and if he does, I plan to be as helpful as possible to him,” she wrote in an email.

Sanders’ omnipresent communications director in 2016, Michael Briggs, said in a text message that it was “unlikely” he’d join a 2020 run.

A common frustration among former staffers is that they feel Sanders and his tight circle of aides have taken their support for granted and failed to keep their 2016 team cohesive, which would have been an inherent advantage in a second run.

Multiple former staffers said that the Clinton campaign alumni network is far more connected and active than Sanders’.

Other former Sanders campaign workers — the “ride or die” cohort as one former aide dubbed them — say that no other Democrat has emerged who matches Bernie.

“I’ll do whatever I can if he runs as would most people I think who backed Bernie in 2016,” said Claire Sandberg, a senior campaign aide for Sanders in 2016. “I’m sure Elizabeth Warren knows all the people she’d appoint to the [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] and the Treasury Department, but I want to know what she’s going to do on climate change. We need a candidate who understands that that’s an existential threat, and frankly he’s the only candidate who has shown that level of vision.”

Or as one former aide who’s still undecided about 2020 put it: “There’s only one Bernie, there will not be another Bernie.”

Those unsure about Bernie 2020 don’t dispute that. But they say there are other considerations this time around.

“He’s the grandpa of the movement,” said another campaign worker from 2016, “but that might not make him the best choice for 2020.”

