Though it is still more than two years away, there is already growing speculation about who will make up the field of potential Democrat candidates who will challenge President Donald Trump for the White House in 2020.
One name that continues to pop up in the discussion is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — and he just made it abundantly clear that he is leaving a door wide open for a possible presidential run.
During an interview on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the senator declined to rule out a 2020 presidential run and extolled the virtues of his version of progressive democratic socialism.
Sanders will NOT rule out run
In his Tuesday interview with Sanders, Colbert mentioned a betting website that has users gambling over the eventual Democratic nominee in 2020, pointing out that Sanders was currently tied with California Sen. Kamala Harris in the rankings. Sanders declined to speculate about who would ultimately win the nomination — so Colbert asked directly.
“Are you willing to put aside all speculation and announce to the people here that you are NOT running in 2020?” Colbert asked.
“No,” replied Sanders, to great applause and cheers from the crowd. “But what I have said time and time again, my focus right now is on 2018 and to do everything that I can to end one-party rule of the House and the Senate.”
One can only wonder if he would still be opposed to “one-party rule” if the Democrats managed to reclaim majorities in both the House and Senate…
But still too early for 2020
“We’re working really, really hard on that,” Sanders added. “But it is too early to be talking about 2020.”
Colbert retorted: “Well, please come back when it’s not ‘too early.'”
Take a look for yourself:
[show_poll poll_id=723]
A recent Harvard CAPS/Harris poll of registered Democrat voters found that Sanders ranked third among likely presidential contenders with 16 percent support, trailing former Vice President Joe Biden at 32 percent and failed 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton at 18 percent.
Bernie Sanders will almost certainly make another run at the presidency in 2020, but whether the Democrats are ready for his version of progressive democratic socialism remains to be seen.