Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Sunday he will seek victory — not just a platform for his message about income inequality — if he opts to take on Hillary Rodham Clinton and chase the 2016 Democratic nomination for president.

“I would not run unless I thought we could win,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “I think there is a lot of discontent out there on the part of ordinary people who feel the system is grossly stacked against them.”

Mr. Sanders, an independent who describes himself as a democratic socialist, said there has been a “massive transfer” of wealth from the middle class to the top 1 percent of Americans.

He said it’s time for the super-rich to pay their fair share of taxes, and to end the “abomination” in which corporations stash their cash in the Cayman Islands or other tax shelters.

He also said he believes in a strong military but that it, too, should trim waste and fraud to keep its budgets in check.

Should he run, Mr. Sanders will sail straight into the headwinds of Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy.

The former first lady, senator and secretary of state announced her candidacy last week, and went directly to Iowa, the first-in-nation caucus state that hobbled her 2008 candidacy against then-Sen. Barack Obama.

Mr. Sanders said Sunday the point of his candidacy is “not a question of running against Hillary Clinton or taking on Hillary Clinton.”

Yet he and other Democratic contenders, such as former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, have pushed back at talk of a Clinton “coronation” in weighing their own bids.

“We’re working on it, and we’ll make the best decision we can in the near future,” Mr. Sanders said.

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