Pramila Jayapal Endorses Bernie Sanders For President
Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington is endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont for President of the United States, according to The Washington Post. Jayapal, who has also been named national health policy chair for the Sanders campaign, will formally endorse the senator in Iowa on Monday.
In a statement, Jayapal said that she is endorsing Sanders because “he has a clarity on policy prescriptions that goes right to the heart of what working people need.”
As the Washington Post notes, Jayapal’s endorsement is yet another significant blow to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is considered to be Sanders’ main competitor in terms of securing the support of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. In that regard, Sanders has outflanked Warren, receiving the endorsements of the most prominent left-leaning lawmakers in the country.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan have all endorsed Sanders, as has Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan.
Furthermore, the support of progressive lawmakers will help the Sanders campaign maintain momentum, given that the lawmakers will be dispatched to Iowa and New Hampshire as Sanders tends to his constitutional duties in the United States Senate as a juror in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Sanders — who supported Jayapal when she ran for Congress in the 2016 cycle — expressed gratitude for the endorsement, describing the congresswoman as “a brilliant leader for progressive ideas.”
“She’s led the fight against Trump’s racism, sexism and xenophobia. Together, we will defeat Trump and build a working class movement and transform this country so it works for all.”
For weeks, Warren has been sliding in the polls, with the primary race increasingly looking like a contest between Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden. The two men have made an effort to draw contrasts between their records. Most recently, their different views on social safety nets were discussed.
Unlike Biden, members of the Sanders campaign claim, the senator has fought to preserve and improve programs such as Social Security. The Biden camp has pushed back against the charges, with the former vice president accusing members of Sanders’ campaign of spreading a “doctored” video of him advocating for cuts to Social Security.
WATCH: The @berniesanders campaign has long been critical of @JoeBiden's record on Social Security @CBSNews asks why Biden's senior support is so large despite Sanders criticism:
Sanders: Look, you know why? I'll tell you why. Because Joe is a nice guy … People like him pic.twitter.com/WRNhT2PCC1
— Cara Korte (@CaraKorte) January 19, 2020
Sanders and Biden have also feuded about foreign policy, with the Vermont senator’s campaign blasting the former vice president for supporting the war in Iraq. On the campaign trail, Biden has been going back and forth between acknowledging that he supported the war, and suggesting that he opposed it.
