Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders Monday night urged progressives and those who voted for Donald Trump on 2016 to back his rival in 2020 Democratic primaries, saying, "The future of our planet is at stake."
"We are confronting systemic racism and the enormous threat to the planet of climate change. And in the middle of all of this, we have a president who is not only incapable of addressing these crisis, but leading us down the path of authoritarianism," Sanders said during the Democratic National Committee's virtual convention.
Sanders' fervent followers lean far left, and many have vowed not to support the more centrist Biden, but Sanders urged them to vote for the ticket of Biden and Kamala Harris.
Sanders thanked those who had voted for him, saying they had moved the country "in a bold new direction. "Our movement continues and is getting stronger every day. Many of the ideas we fought for a few years ago were considered radical are now mainstream."
But he said Donald Trump reelection would put "all the progress we have made … in jeopardy."
"During this president's term the unthinkable has become normal," Sanders said. "He has tried to prevent people from voting, undermine the U.S. Postal Service, deployed the military and federal agents against peaceful protesters, threatened to delay the election, and suggested that he will not leave office if he loses. This is not normal. And we must never treat it like it is."
Many of Sanders’ top advisers and supporters have spent months working with Biden’s campaign on joint task forces that devised common policy goals for use in the Democratic platform.
The idea was to promote party unity in a way that did not happen in 2016, when many Sanders supporters remained unenthusiastic about Hillary Clinton.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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