Name: “Bernie Voters Have Never Been the Disloyal Bunch They’re Characterized As Being”: Will Sanders Supporters Get on the Biden Train After Tara Reade?
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“Bernie Voters Have Never Been the Disloyal Bunch They’re Characterized As Being”: Will Sanders Supporters Get on the Biden Train After Tara Reade?

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Four years ago, after an unexpectedly competitive and contentious primary, Bernie Sanders endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee. “We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” the Vermont senator at the party convention in Philadelphia—and Sanders was booed, long and loudly, by his own delegates. That fall Sanders campaigned energetically for Clinton, yet after Donald Trump’s narrow victory, some of her former campaign aides that Sanders had demanded use of a private plane to make campaign appearances on her behalf.No one is flying much of anywhere at the moment, so transportation has not become an issue. Yet Sanders–related tensions from this year’s primary could again become a headache for the Democratic nominee. This time around Sanders finished second to Joe Biden, and in mid-April he enthusiastically endorsed the former vice president. Prominent former Sanders campaign aides, however, have lately used Tara Reade’s allegations of sexual assault to take shots at Biden. “The allegations deserve to be taken seriously. But then Biden allowed the vilification of Anita Hill, so maybe thats too much to expect,” David Sirota, who was a senior adviser and speechwriter for Sanders 2020. Briahna Joy Gray, Sanders’s former campaign press secretary, has also been sharply critical. “Nobody knows what happened except for Tara Reade and Joe Biden,” Gray tells me. “But regardless of how this turns out, the Democratic Party has genuflected and bent over backwards to change the rules for a Democratic candidate in a way that they didn’t for Brett Kavanaugh. And that kind of hypocrisy is going to be real fodder for Republicans. We have basically given up any and all moral authority in this area. All for what? To save a candidate that a lot of people thought was dead in the water in late February? A candidate who, before he started his campaign, was by seven women of inappropriate physical conduct?”Sanders had previously distanced himself from Gray’s Biden–bashing, , “She is my former press secretary—not on the payroll.” (Sanders has apparently not been asked directly yet whether he believes Biden or Reade; Biden has the accusations of his former senate staffer.) Even if the Reade storm passes, however, Bernieworld criticisms of Biden on other issues are likely to continue. “Sanders has already shown a willingness to call for unity behind Biden, and he absolutely should try to tamp things down with his noisiest supporters,” a Democratic strategist says. “He should know the stakes are far too high to do otherwise.” A Sanders insider, though, believes such efforts would be counterproductive. “The Clinton people acted as if Bernie could just snap his fingers and tell all his supporters to get in line. That’s just not the case,” the operative says. “You have to be careful to not equate the Twittersphere with the actual Sanders coalition. Online is where a lot of this garbage comes from, and if you engage it, you risk enlarging the megaphone. Bernie is better off making the substantive progressive case for Biden.”That might be easier if Biden adopts more of Sanders’s policy ideas, beyond recently . Maximizing turnout by Sanders’s primary voters will be crucial in what is expected to be another close general election. Sanders could be especially effective by targeting his case for Biden to two historically hard-to-turn-out demographics where Sanders has strong backing and Biden has significant weaknesses—younger and Latino voters. “Bernie did a really incredible job—over many years, in the issues he fights for, and in the primary this year—of earning the trust of the Latino community. He really earned the Tío Bernie nickname,” says Meredith Kelly, who was a senior advisor on Kirsten Gillibrand’s presidential bid. “And I think that it’s clear that there’s something funky going on when it comes to the Trump–Biden matchup with Latinos. I think Bernie can play a huge role there. One reason is that I’ve seen polling showing people believe Democrats have been fighting for workers and individuals in these pandemic stimulus bills and that Republicans have done more than enough for corporations. Who are the best messengers on that? Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.”Gray says she thinks that defeating Trump will ultimately be a greater motivator for Sanders supporters than anything else. And she cites a study showing that in 2016, even after all the bitterness about a primary, only about 12% of Sanders’s primary voters to Trump in the general election. How many stayed home, of course, is a different question. “Bernie voters have never been the disloyal bunch they’re characterized as being,” Gray tells me. “But they have been shamed extensively. Whether the abuse they’ve suffered at the hands of establishment Democrats for the past four years affects their voting behavior in 2020 remains to be seen.”More Great Stories From Vanity Fair— Internal Documents Reveal Team — Can You Without a Lockdown? Sweden Is Trying— to Inject Disinfectants Into Veins to Cure Coronavirus— Trump’s Cold War With the — of Living With Coronavirus— In the Coronavirus Era, the ﻿— From the Archive: to the Clinton Team, and MoreLooking for more? for our daily Hive newsletter and never miss a story.Most Popular is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He is the best-selling author of The Daily Show (the Book) and Till the End (with CC Sabathia). Smith joined V.F. after covering politics, entertainment, sports, and crime for New York magazine. 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Four years ago, after an unexpectedly competitive and contentious primary, Bernie Sanders endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee. “We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” the Vermont senator at the party convention in Philadelphia—and Sanders was booed, long and loudly, by his own delegates. That fall Sanders campaigned energetically for Clinton, yet after Donald Trump’s narrow victory, some of her former campaign aides that Sanders had demanded use of a private plane to make campaign appearances on her behalf.No one is flying much of anywhere at the moment, so...

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Vanity Fair is a monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the United States.  The first version of Vanity Fair was published from 1913 to 1936. The imprint was revived in 1983 and currently includes five international editions of the magazine. As of 2018, the Editor-in-Chief is Radhika Jones.

“Bernie Voters Have Never Been the Disloyal Bunch They’re Characterized As Being”: Will Sanders Supporters Get on the Biden Train After Tara Reade?

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