bernie sanders for senate minority leader?

[msongs]

I generally like the guy and most of his beliefs. not that fond of some of his strategies when running for be president under a party he refused to join and often condemns. but he would at least appear to be more anti trump than the current model.
He is plain spoken and doesn't take 30 minutes to speak 5 minutes of useful content like most in the senate.

[dweller]

1. LOL and what

Send Schumer on the road to rallies ?

Bernie is doing more for the Dems right now on the road


✌🏻

[msongs]

3. he can do both nt

[Celerity]

2. He would be great but the votes will never be there to make it happen. nt

[Ping Tung]

4. EEK! He's too Liberal and....(double EE!ii) he's a SOCIALIST!!

[mr715]

15. He also isn't a Democrat.

[elocs]

18. DING! DING! DING! We have a winner! n/t

[kerry-is-my-prez]

35. And he does nothing but beat up on the Democrats.

[LeftInTX]

17. He isn't a member of the minority party.

The job isn't for the "not-majority" leader the job is for the "minority " leader.

[LostOne4Ever]

5. I think Warren or Schiff would be a better pick

Honestly, there are a lot of good picks other than Schumer or Fetterman.

[sheshe2]

6. Sorry, no.

He is an Independent, not a member of the Democratic Party He can't lead a party that he does not belong to.

[Nanjeanne]

7. Actually I'd like to see Chris Murphy as leader but not until I see if he votes yes or no on cloture. I havent

seen a definitive answer from him and I could only leave a message when I called his office. I know he was a no on the bill but when I called today the phones must have been off the chart and only message was available.

[moonscape]

19. He's a hard no on cloture

[Morbius]

8. Leaders in the House or the Senate

Primarily serve the function of persuading the party fringes to go along with the main objective of the party at the moment. The job involves some persuasion, some arm-twisting, and some compromise. Bernie Sanders - while I love him - isn't the right kind of guy for the job. He's fine doing what he's doing: stirring up the base and raising hell.

[H2O Man]

9. Recommended.

[bigtree]

10. I kinda like Democrats leading Democrats

...thank you.

Not fair weather ones who only adopt the party moniker for their own personal political advancement.

[displacedvermoter]

30. Like Schumer, some would say.

I would put forth that Bernie has done more for the average Democratic voter just in the last five years than Schumer has done in his entire 30 or so years representing Wall Street in the Senate.

If is truly times like these where real leaders come to the forefront, and fakes like Schumer show their true colors.

Maybe he can stand in front of the Senate Office Building and yell "we will fight" really loud, like a few weeks ago. That'll show them.

Bernie wouldn't want to be Minority Leader, but he would damn well do a better job of inspiring the Party than Trump's new ally Chuck Schumer, who I would think after seeing Trump's thank you message should crawl off and hide.

And thanks for continuing in the tradition of bashing Senator Sanders at even the most inappropriate moment, consistency being important.

[SocialDemocrat61]

11. He's not a democrat

so not sure if the rules would allow it

[LexVegas]

12. Fuck no. nt

[dalton99a]

13. Fuck, I'd nominate Michael Steele or the French Senate president

[mr715]

14. No. No, no no no. No.

Democrats should be led by explicit members of the party.

[LeftInTX]

16. He's not a Democrat. He's not a member of the "minority party".

[markpkessinger]

23. And yet, when it comes to his voting record in the Senate . . .

. . . he has been a more reliable vote for Democrats than many Democratic senators. I'm not at all sure that merely "being a member of the Democratic Party" means all that much anymore.

[LeftInTX]

33. Until 2018, he participated in Democratic Primaries to eliminate competition and then switched to

Independent for the general election. You may want to ask him why he pursues this strategy. He is welcome to compete as a Democrat in the general election. This way, he would be a Democratic member of congress.

[markpkessinger]

36. He's an independent . . .

. . . because Vermont has open primaries, and thus it isn't as important in that state to be affiliated with either party, and being an independent plays well among Vermont voters. He switched to Democrat to run in the 2016 primary, because he is a practical man, and knew that he would have zero chance running as an independent. He knew that the two parties have a virtual lock on the balloting process in many states, and as such running as an independent nationally would be a fool's errand. It was smart politics for him to do so. I find it curious that you are more attached to the label than to the actual policies candidates support.

[LeftInTX]

44. He has been running in Democratic primaries since 1990. It wasn't just for his presidential run.

Since Vermont has open primaries, why is their other senator a Democrat and why is their congressional house member a Democrat.


Texas has open primaries. Why do we have Ted Cruz??? Hello??


Open primaries don't mean what you think it means. I live in an open primary state.

Open primary means that the voter is not obligated to vote in a specific primary..

He ran in the Democratic Primary in:
US House:
1990
1994
1996 (He lost, but won in the general as an independent)
1998
2000 (Lost, but won in the general as independent)
2002
2004 (Lost, but won in the general as an independent)


US Senate:
1972 Liberty Union
1974 Liberty Union
2006 Democratic
2012 Democratic
2018 Democratic


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Bernie_Sanders

He is welcome to run in the general as a Democrat as his junior senator, Peter Welch did.



States with Open Primaries
Voters may choose to vote in one party's primary election, regardless of their partisan registration.

Alabama
Arkansas
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
North Dakota
Ohio
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_primaries_in_the_United_States

[DFW]

20. Let him run for "Independent" leader

This “Democrat when convenient” business is very “been there, done that.” Let him hold his rallies and preach to his choir. The Democrats in the Senate have enough talent to choose one of their own for their leader.

[ibegurpard]

21. No

Too many people hate his guts. Unfairly in my opinion but it is what it is.
Someone like Chris Murphy maybe.

[msongs]

22. well the trend is definitely against the Bernster as minority leader :-)

[question everything]

24. Not until he changes his registration to Democrat

He continues to laugh at us and I hope all Democrats have more dignity.

[karynnj]

25. In Vermont you do not register by party

[MichMan]

26. Candidates are most certainly identified by party affiliation on ballots

Bernie identifies as a Democrat for the primary, withdraws his party affiliation for the general election, and changes to Independent. Every single election

[LeftInTX]

28. Peter Welch is the other senator from Vermont. He's a Democrat.

In Texas, voters do not register by party either.

In order to compete as a Democrat, you must file to run in the Democratic primary, whether you end up with a primary challenge or not.

Vermont has one congressional seat, held by: Becca Balint who is a Democrat.

The government of Vermont is a Republican

Independents do not participate in primaries.

https://www.vtdemocrats.org/

Bernie has run as a third party/indie candidate in local races.

Also, he runs in the Democratic Party primary to eliminate challengers, then switches to Independent in the general election.

Sanders first ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1988 and for the U.S. Senate in 2006, each time adopting a strategy of winning the Democratic Party primary, thereby eliminating Democratic challengers, and then running as an independent in the general election.[471] He continued this strategy through his reelection in the 2018 United States Senate election in Vermont.[472] Throughout his tenure in Congress, he has been listed as an independent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders

[question everything]

37. They certainly do Vermont state primaries 2024: Voter guide

https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2024-08-02/vermont-state-primaries-2024-voter-guide

This primary is when the Democratic, Republican and Progressive parties select their nominees for state offices, the state House and Senate, and congressional seats.

Some of these nominations are pretty much a done deal — there’s no one trying to take the Republican nomination away from Gov. Phil Scott, for example, and no Democrat is going up against Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary for his seat — but others are competitive.

Both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Becca Balint won the Democratic nomination to seek reelection to their respective seats.

https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/08/13/vermont-primary-election-results-november-ballot-governor-house-senate-ag/74722759007/

[karynnj]

38. Voters do not register by party

Every voter gets to choose ONE primary ballot each election. If you vote by mail, you get all three and select one to vote and return the other two to be discarded.

[question everything]

43. Meaning open primaries. Other states have it, CA, but the candidates are identified by party

Sanders changes his registration to Democrat and he changes back for the general.

[LeftInTX]

46. Same with Texas.

Open Primary States.


Alabama
Arkansas
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
North Dakota
Ohio
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin

[Quiet Em]

27. If Senator Schumer was replaced

the obvious replacement would be Senator Patty Murray.

[displacedvermoter]

31. Based on longevity?

Really...

[Quiet Em]

34. Based on knowledge, experience, respect from colleagues.

And that fact that she is always putting in the work and fighting hard.

[obamanut2012]

42. The poster never said that

[obamanut2012]

40. 100% agree

And AOC needs to primary Schumer.

[pfitz59]

29. Bernie is more charismatic than Schumer

and his rallies are great. I second the motion.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

32. He already is, being an independent. He, himself and Bernie.

[obamanut2012]

39. Patty Murray

[Bettie]

41. He's not technically a Democrat

so, that's a non-starter.

But, there are others.

Schumer will probably stay though because the leader appears to be chosen by "his turn" (and make no mistake, it will ALWAYS be "HIS" when turns come) rather than any other consideration.

[LeftInTX]

45. "His turn" isn't a given. McConnell stepped down. It was supposed to be Cornyn's "turn", but Thune and Barrasso are.

Next in line for the Democrats is Dick Durbin. Usually minority/majority leaders tend to be old and have been there a long time.