The outspoken senator from Vermont, Congress’ only self-described socialist, said he would consider a 2016 run for the presidency if no one else with sufficiently left-wing values enters the race.

“Under normal times, it’s fine, you have a moderate Democrat running, a moderate Republican running,” Sanders told the Burlington Free Press on Friday. “These are not normal times. The United States right now is in the middle of a severe crisis and you have to call it what it is.”

Sanders previously suggested he might run for president in an October interview with labor advocacy magazine In These Times.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.