Cut and run

Bernie Sanders stitched up after run-in with shower door

Democratic candidate, 77, gets clean bill of health, keeps campaign schedule

By AFP 17 March 2019, 3:55 am

Edit

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent-Vermont, speaks during a rally in Greenville, South Carolina, February 21, 2016. (John Bazemore/AP)

WASHINGTON — US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders cut his head on a shower door Friday and received seven stitches, but he proceeded with his scheduled campaign events, a spokesperson said.

The 77-year-old senator, the oldest candidate in the Democratic race to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020, went to a walk-in clinic to be checked and was given a “clean bill of health,” Sanders spokeswoman Arianna Jones said in a statement.

“The senator has proceeded with all of his scheduled events” including a breakfast with local clergy and then a health care roundtable in South Carolina, she said.

The incident is likely to fuel questions about the liberal icon’s physical condition as he gears up for what will undoubtedly be a grueling campaign against 14 other Democrats currently in the race — including two who are less than half his age.

In the last presidential election in 2016, Republican Donald Trump attacked Democrat rival Hillary Clinton, who was 68 at the time, as suffering from “low energy” when she came down with pneumonia during the campaign, claiming she lacked the stamina to be president.