February 27, 2018

Bernie Sanders’ Son Is Running for Congress in New Hampshire

Levi Sanders faces a very crowded field.

Levi Sanders

Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

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On Tuesday, Levi Sanders, son of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, announced he was running for Congress in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District as a Democrat. In a statement on his website (still a work in progress) the younger Sanders outlined a brief platform that sounds a bit like his father’s—Medicare-for-all, a living wage, and tuition-free college. Levi Sanders is a lawyer who has worked most recently, according to his LinkedIn page, as a legal advocate for people on Social Security Disability Insurance, but he does have a bit of political experience; he has served as an adviser to his father’s Senate and presidential campaigns.

Oh, and he got roped into doing production work for Bernie’s old public-access television show when Sanders was still mayor of Burlington:

CCTV Center for Media & Democracy

The district, represented by retiring Democrat Carol Shea-Porter, is one of the most competitive seats in the country, and Sanders is the eighth Democrat to enter the race. The fact that his father won the state easily during the 2016 presidential primary is probably good for Sanders; the fact that he doesn’t currently live in the district may be less of an asset. (Levi Sanders lives in the neighboring 2nd District, where the incumbent Democratic Rep. Ann Kuster is seeking reelection.) Levi Sanders isn’t the only member of the clan seeking higher office this year. Sanders’ step-daughter, Carina Driscoll, is running for the senator’s old job as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, against an incumbent Democrat.

So there you have it. The year is 2018: Donald Trump is the most powerful man in the world, alien alloys are being stored in a warehouse in Nevada, and the Sanderses of Vermont are the new Kennedys.

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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