Bernie Sanders: Biden win in November is no ‘slam dunk’

Bernie Sanders is warning that if one-time rival Joe Biden does not do more to promote his policies and reach out to Latino voters, the Democratic presidential nominee is at risk of falling short to President Donald Trump this November.

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who left the primary race in the spring and has worked to shift Biden to the left on key issues, has made the warnings in public and private in recent days. Most recently, he went on MSNBC on Sunday to express concerns that Biden was not speaking up enough about his economic proposals.

“I think Biden’s in an excellent position to win this election, but I think we have got to do more as a campaign than just go after Trump,” he says. “We also have to give people a reason to vote for Joe Biden. And Joe has some pretty strong positions on the economy, and I think we should be talking about that more than we have.”

In a Friday interview with PBS, Sanders was more blunt: “Am I here to tell you absolutely, this is a slam dunk, no chance that he will lose? That is not what I’m saying,” the Vermont senator said.

His comments follow a week when Biden campaigned with union workers in Michigan and released a tax plan focused on boosting US manufacturing by punishing businesses that take jobs overseas. Biden also emphasized his economic agenda and attacked Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, while the former vice president spent Labor Day with union workers in Pennsylvania.

— AP