We Asked Linda Sarsour What’s Next for the Post-Bernie Movement
After Bernie Sanders dropped out of the 2020 presidential race today, AJ+ Producer Vic Vaiana and Senior Producer Angie Nassar spoke with Linda Sarsour, a prominent Sanders supporter and an original co-organizer of the 2017 Women’s March, to ask about what’s next for progressives and the movement.
1. Keep fighting for the progressive agenda.
The long-term fight for Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, criminal justice reform, a just foreign policy, etc. doesn’t end with Sanders, Sarsour says, though progressives will need to reorganize. She calls on young people to think of themselves as part of a movement and fight that’s much bigger than the presidential election. “We need to get out of the tunnel vision that electoral politics is the only way we're going to win. In fact, it's probably one of the smallest tools that we have in the toolbox,” she says.
2. Support local candidates.
“There are so many young people and people of color and immigrants running for office, and those people are the ones that need your support,” Sarsour says. The down-ballot race continues, and people can refocus their energy on the people of color running for office locally.
3. Stay true to your values.
“Sometimes some progressives feel the need to concede, to negotiate. We should never negotiate our values,” Sarsour says. “It is one of the reasons why Senator Bernie Sanders went so far.” Sanders supporters who now vote for Joe Biden can’t give him a pass, she said, and need to hold him accountable on issues that impact their communities.
Sarsour believes the Sanders campaign could have done a better job engaging Black voters, attracting a wider range of supporters, dealing with the media, and proving his ideas weren’t pipe dreams. And she says the challenge right now for the Democratic Party is to excite the base around a vision, ideas and policies beyond just anti-Trump. In order to do this, the party will need to reach beyond traditional voting blocs and speak to communities that supported Sanders, including Muslim voters in Michigan, Latino voters in Nevada and California, and young people at large. “Saying that we don't want Donald Trump in office for four more years is going to work for some,” she says, “but it's not going to work for all.”
Produced By: Vic Vaiana and Angie Nassar