Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders issued a scathing statement on what he called the Democratic Party’s “disastrous” campaign after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to former President Donald Trump.
The independent, who caucuses with Democrats, said it “should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well,” Sanders continued in his statement. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”
The longtime progressive champion, who ran for president in 2016 and 2020, reflected on the ways Americans continue to experience economic instability, from income and wealth inequality to a lack of guaranteed paid family and medical leave.
In this March 7, 2024, file photo, Sen. Bernie Sanders talks to the media as he walks to the House chamber before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Sanders also criticized continued spending on military aid to Israel.
“Today, despite strong opposition from a majority of Americans, we continue to spend billions funding the extremist Netanyahu government’s all out war against the Palestinian people which has led to the horrific humanitarian disaster of mass malnutrition and the starvation of thousands of children,” Sanders said.
Sanders, who won reelection Tuesday to a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate, cast doubt about the party’s ability to learn its lesson.
“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not,” Sanders said.
Sanders said “very serious political discussions” are now merited about the path forward for “those of us concerned about grassroots democracy and economic justice,” before ending his statement with, “Stay tuned.”
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Howard University in Washington, Nov. 6, 2024.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Harris conceded the election in a speech on Wednesday at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, D.C.
“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” she said. “The fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people — a fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation — the ideals that reflect America at our best.”
Harris’ concession speech came after Trump was projected to win the swing states of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.