Sanberg, a founder of Aspiration, the socially conscious online banking company, described Sanders’ diverse, young and working-class coalition of supporters as a key reason for getting behind the Vermont senator’s candidacy.

“I think about the kind of progressive governance that I want to see happen over the rest of our lives ― it’s going to require the multiracial, working-class coalition under 45 that have been inspired by his campaign,” said Sanberg, 40, a founder of multiple progressive advocacy groups, who emphasized that he was making the endorsement in a personal capacity. “The endorsement for me is both about my belief that Bernie can beat Trump and be a great president, as well as standing by the coalition he’s awakened.

Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the young progressive mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, is endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign after residents of Jackson voted to endorse Sanders during a people’s caucus.

“I believe that an endorsement from myself should represent more than just my own personal thoughts, views, and opinions. It should be considerate of the people who are impacted by the policy, impacted by whatever relationship ensues from that individual if that relationship were to prevail,” Lumumba said explaining the choice to have a caucus. “We decided that we’d have a people’s caucus, which is consistent with our normal assemblies to discuss major issues in our city.”


“Sen. Sanders rose to the top,” Lumumba said of the city’s caucus, where representatives for Sanders, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, and Elizabeth Warren were available to share their candidate’s platforms with residents. “On a personal level, Sen. Sanders rises to the top for me because he has demonstrated the most consistency, and I think that his policies and what he has prioritized in his campaign speaks to the issues that we’re most concerned with in Mississippi.”

Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the young progressive mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, is endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign after residents of Jackson voted to endorse Sanders during a people’s caucus.

“I believe that an endorsement from myself should represent more than just my own personal thoughts, views, and opinions. It should be considerate of the people who are impacted by the policy, impacted by whatever relationship ensues from that individual if that relationship were to prevail,” Lumumba said explaining the choice to have a caucus. “We decided that we’d have a people’s caucus, which is consistent with our normal assemblies to discuss major issues in our city.”


“Sen. Sanders rose to the top,” Lumumba said of the city’s caucus, where representatives for Sanders, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, and Elizabeth Warren were available to share their candidate’s platforms with residents. “On a personal level, Sen. Sanders rises to the top for me because he has demonstrated the most consistency, and I think that his policies and what he has prioritized in his campaign speaks to the issues that we’re most concerned with in Mississippi.”

After the Nevada caucuses, Bernie Sanders is now the front-runner in the Democratic presidential race.

In South Carolina, the next primary, former Vice President Joe Biden is the favorite, buoyed by his support among African American voters. But Sanders will come into the state with real momentum, having won the popular vote in each of the first three contests.

Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have offered Americans a new direction, not simply another candidate. Both have called for a modern version of what Franklin D. Roosevelt called the Economic Bill of Rights: Medicare for all, tuition-free public education, universal day care, a Green New Deal to generate jobs while addressing climate change. Both would tax the wealthy and corporations to make vital public investments in the common good.

Sanders calls himself a “democratic socialist.” Warren objects to that label and says she’s for making markets work. But this is a difference in labels, not in substance. Their agendas are remarkably similar. The direction they would set is the same.

Some already have started to frighten people about the label “democratic socialist.” Trump paints it as Venezuela or Cuba. Mike Bloomberg has called Sanders (and presumably Warren’s) views on taxing wealth “communist.” Voters are going to hear a lot more of this nonsense, if Sanders continues to build momentum or Warren catches fire.

Here’s the reality. The important word in “democratic socialism” isn’t socialism, it’s democratic. Sanders isn’t talking about making America into Cuba or Venezuela; he’s talking about extending social guarantees like those offered in most other advanced industrial states, invoking Denmark or Sweden. These countries have universal health care at lower cost, paid family leave, guaranteed paid vacations, higher minimum wages, more generous public retirement programs. They also have vibrant and competitive economies, lower inequality, less poverty, and higher life expectancies.

So, put aside the fearmongering and the red-baiting; take a look instead at the substance. There’s no question we need big structural change, as Elizabeth Warren puts it. We need a better distribution of wealth, and a greater protection of basic human rights like the right to affordable health care, as Sanders argues.

Call it capitalism with a conscience, democratic socialism, call it lemonade. It’s the substance, not the label that counts.