Sanders to Dems: We must change our strategy to regain power [View all]

[Donkees]

12/26/16

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) said Democrats need to create a new strategy in all 50 states to win more middle-class voters and gain more control as a party.

Sanders spoke with Democracy Now, where he said the Democrats failed badly in the 2016 election against President-elect Donald Trump.

"The new approach, I think, is to, A, create a 50-state strategy. That means we start playing ball in states that the Democrats have conceded decades ago," the former presidential candidate said.

This approach, Sanders said, should be through a grassroots movement where the most important members of the party are younger and middle class. These people can give the party a better understand of what needs to change, said Sanders, whose been tapped by Senate Democratic leadership to head the party's outreach efforts.

“I’m going to be going around the country to try to do everything that I can to create a party which represents working people and not just the 1 percent” Sanders said. “Right now in the United States, as you know, Mr. Trump will be inaugurated. Right now, the Republicans control the U.S. Senate. Democrats, I had hoped—we thought we had a better than even chance of gaining control. We did not.”

“So I think any independent assessment, without casting any blame, says the current approach has failed. All right? When you lose, you know, it’s like they always say about the football coach: You know, if you’re zero and 10, you’re not doing well,” he continued. “Well, the current approach clearly is not succeeding, and we need a new approach.”

Sanders is a large proponent of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) in his bid to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Sanders also said supporters of Trump are angry with the establishment, and reiterated that Trump was able to tap into this anger during his campaign.

“There are some people who think that everybody who voted for Donald Trump is a racist, a sexist or a homophobe or a xenophobe. I don’t believe that. Are those people in his camp? Absolutely. But it would be a tragic mistake to believe that everybody who voted for Donald Trump is a 'deplorable.' They’re not,” Sanders said.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/311833-sanders-democrats-must-change-their-strategy-to-regain-power