Report: Bernie Sanders Angling for Key Role in a Potential Biden Administration
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has expressed interest in becoming labor secretary in Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s potential administration, according to a new report.
Two anonymous sources close to the senator told Politico that the former presidential candidate and self-described democratic socialist is trying to get that post or a similar position in a Biden administration.
“I can confirm he’s trying to figure out how to land that role or something like it,” one person said.
“He, personally, does have an interest in it.”
Former Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said that while Sanders has not talked directly with Biden’s campaign, he plans to push the former vice president to “include progressive voices” in the transition and in a potential new administration.
Sanders refused to confirm or deny the report.
“Right now I am focused on seeing that Biden is elected president,” he told Politico. “That’s what my main focus is.”
The two sources, including one former Sanders aide, said the senator has been pushing for the top job at the Labor Department by reaching out to people on the transition team.
A representative of Biden’s transition team told Politico that it is “not making any personnel decisions pre-election.”
Former Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich said Sanders would “be terrific” in the senior role in a potential Biden administration.
At Thursday’s presidential debate, President Donald Trump pointed to Biden’s proposed policies and said his health care plan was the same “Medicare for All” program Democrats pushed during the primary, NPR reported.
Biden tried to move away from that notion, saying, “I beat all those other people because I disagreed with them.”
Sanders and Biden have been collaborating on six “unity task forces” since Sanders ended his bid for the presidency in an attempt to bring the Democratic Party together to defeat Trump.
The panels on climate change, education, health care, critical justice reform, the economy and immigration met prior to the Democratic National Convention to shape Biden’s agenda.
“We’ve had a good relationship with the Biden team, and I expect we’ll maintain that all the way through,” Shakir told Politico.
“It would be great to have a unity government that takes into account that progressives are a pretty healthy portion of the electorate,” he said.
“Heeding that would be good, but if Joe Biden wins, he rightly has a mandate to move in whatever direction he chooses,” Shakir said.
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