Former Campaign Manager Says Bernie Sanders Is Still the 'New' Voice America Needs
*By Chloe Aiello*
As 2020 approaches, one question is dominating the Democratic Party: Who can defeat President Trump? According to Jeff Weaver, the campaign manager of Bernie Sanders' 2016 bid for the White House, Americans want someone new. And that "new" voice is still his old boss.
"I think most Americans agree that we need to replace the president with someone who can bring us together, who can meet the needs of working families and marginalized communities ー and Trump's obviously not only not doing that, he's tearing this country apart," Weaver told Cheddar on Monday.
Americans "want somebody new," he said.
"Who is that person? I've been pretty clear about my view on that," Weaver said. In fact, the last three words of his book, "How Bernie Won," are "Run, Bernie, run."
The Vermont Democrat hasn't yet decided whether or not he will throw his hat into the 2020 ring, although Weaver said he is "actively considering it."
In the event he does enter the race, Weaver said Sanders has learned substantive lessons from his 2016 campaign that his team will apply to 2020. "I think this time we have a much better sense of how to ... put together a winning campaign," he said.
Specifically, he said they would put campaign workers on the ground in key states earlier in the race. He said they also plan to build a bigger and more diverse team.
Weaver acknowledged that the crowded Democratic slate for 2020 will pose new challenges. Roughly 30 Democratic candidates are thought to be toying with a bid for the White House, including veterans like former Vice President Joe Biden and newcomers like Beto O'Rourke.
A recent Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll of likely participants in the Iowa caucuses found Sanders in second place in a hypothetical field, ahead of O'Rourke but behind Biden.
Some of Sanders' rockstar status has been eclipsed by O'Rourke, whose unsuccessful campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz for a U.S. Senate seat still catapulted him to national fame. Meanwhile, like Sanders, Biden comes with a blend of longtime Washington experience and a progressive platform.
But Weaver said it "is healthy for the Democratic Party to have this broad range of voices," so long as the process is open and fair.
Weaver also does not begrudge other Democrats the progressive stances that Sanders championed in 2016.
"Other candidates have gravitated to those positions. I think that's fantastic, I think to the extent that we can move the discussion in the primary process around a progressive agenda ... I think that's a very healthy debate to have," Weaver said.
Sanders may have worked up a devoted following in 2016, but if he runs again in 2020, Weaver said the campaign wouldn't take that popularity for granted.
"I don't think anybody running can take anyone running for granted. Each time you go out, you're going to have to go out and make your case again to the American people," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/will-bernie-sanders-run-again).
The Biden administration on Tuesday quietly launched its website for Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests, a day before the site was scheduled to officially launch.
Just 27% of voters aged 18-29 approve of the job Biden is doing as president, according to a survey from The Economist and YouGov late last year. Santiago Mayer, executive director of Voters of Tomorrow, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss why President Biden is losing support among young voters.
Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, joins Cheddar News to discuss it being one year since Trump was exiled from social media and the former President's new platform 'Truth Social.'
Cliff Albright, co-founder of the group Black Voters Matter, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss why he boycotted President Biden's voting rights speech this week, and the push from Senate Democrats to debate and vote on the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) has teamed up with fellow Democratic senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly to introduce the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, a bill to essentially end stock trading by sitting lawmakers. From the other side of the aisle, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced his own legislation to enact something similar. The dueling bills come at a time when it's popular to constrain members of Congress from owning and trading stocks. Karl Evers-Hillstrom, a business and lobbying reporter at The Hill, spoke to Cheddar about the significance of the bills, and what they could mean for lawmakers, their families, and staffers moving forward.
A second Starbucks location in the U.S. has officially voted to unionize. On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board announced workers at the Starbucks store located in the Buffalo, NY suburb of Cheektowaga voted 15-9 in favor of being represented by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. The New York Times reports votes were tallied in December but remained inconclusive as the union challenged the ballots of several employees it said did not work at the store. A Starbucks spokesperson has said that it may appeal the labor board's decision, which comes as several other Starbucks stores across the country are also pushing to form a union. Danka Dragic, shift supervisor for the second Starbucks store in the country to unionize, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Earlier today, Minnesota Republican Representative, Tom Emmer, introduced a bill that would prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency directly to American consumers. According to the Congressman from Minnesota, requiring Americans to open a fed account to access a digital currency, would "put the Fed on insidious path akin to China's digital authoritarianism." Rep. Tom Emmer joined Cheddar's None of The Above to discuss more.
Sixteen of the country's most prestigious universities have been hit with a lawsuit claiming those schools illegally conspired to eliminate competitive financial aid offers for students. Just some of the schools mentioned include Yale, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, and Cornell. Author of "Who Gets In and Why" and Professor of practice at Arizona State University, Jeff Selingo, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
