Many signs point to Bernie Sanders running for President in 2020. Not only does his campaign website still have a “contribute” button; he is also planning to visit every state in the nation to promote his Medicare-for-All bill. He recently visited California, the state where his biggest donors for his 2016 campaign come from, and spoke to the nurse’s union. Senator Sanders says it’s too early to make a decision about 2020, but he says he’s “not taking it off the table.”

Key Issues

Senator Sanders believes income and wealth inequality is the most significant issue to tackle. His campaign website states, “The issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time, and it is the great political issue of our time.” Some of the ways Sanders intends to fight wealth and income inequality are:

raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15

creating 13 million jobs by investing $1 trillion over five years into infrastructure needs

making public colleges and universities tuition free

having the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

Sanders also believes in making healthcare a right and not a privilege and would like to institute a single-payer government healthcare system.

Sanders has recently introduced his Medicare-for-All bill. A Kaiser Health News poll says 53 percent of adults support a single-payer government healthcare system. One-third of their respondents identified as Republicans.

The State of the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is still struggling from the significant losses in the 2016 election. Senator Sanders stated at the Peoples Summit in Chicago, “Trump didn’t win the election. The Democratic Party lost the election.” Sanders insists the Democratic Party requires “fundamental change” because their “current model and current strategy is an absolute failure.” Senator Sanders may very well be that change. Many Democrats are getting behind Sanders, as he recently had 16 co-sponsors for his Medicare-for-All bill.

Many of the co-sponsors are prospective candidates for 2020.

Supporters

Senator Sanders has many vocal and loyal supporters that now dub themselves “Berniecrats.” Many are calling for the senator to form a new “People’s Party” ahead of the 2020 election. Sanders has recently said he will run as an Independent next year for reelection as senator for Vermont.

Many hope Sanders will run again. 2020 seems a long way off, but with our current political climate, many are looking forward to it.