Bernie Sanders to run for president in 2020

Bernie Sanders announced on Tuesday that he will run again for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 US Presidential elections.

Via an email and later in a YouTube video to supporters on Tuesday, Sanders announced his decision to run again saying: "Together, you and I and our 2016 campaign began the political revolution," he said. "Now, it is time to complete that revolution and implement the vision that we fought for."

Undaunted after failing in his first attempt at the Democrat ticket in 2016, Sanders said he wanted to go head to head with Donald Trump whom he called in the email “the most dangerous president in modern American history”.

But he also made clear that the "campaign is not just about defeating Donald Trump, our campaign is about transforming the country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice."

Some of the progressive policies Sanders helped popularize in 2016 were Medicare-for-All, a $15 an hour federal minimum wage, tuition-free college, demands to combat climate change more aggressively and higher taxes on the wealthy.

“Three years ago, during our 2016 campaign, when we brought forth our progressive agenda we were told that our ideas were ‘radical’ and ‘extreme’,” Sanders wrote. “Well, three years have come and gone. And, as result of millions of Americans standing up and fighting back, all of these policies and more are now supported by a majority of Americans.”

Sanders will face the challenge of trying to recapture the same enthusiasm for his campaign than in 2016, although he now holds an advantage over other Democrat candidates.

According to ABC news, an early Iowa poll showed he now held 19% of the vote, putting him just behind former vice-president Joe Biden. Sanders will need all the strength of the grassroots movement that served him well in 2016 to push him to the top.

Other candidates to the Democratic ticket included Senators Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Joe Biden and billionaire Michael Bloomberg were reportedly also thinking about entering the contest.