Sen. Bernard Sanders, who is again seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, said in a new interview that he would have beaten President Trump in 2016 had he won the party’s nomination then.
“If I won the nomination, I would have defeated Donald Trump,” Mr. Sanders said in an interview with Noticias Telemundo published over the weekend.
“I think we need a candidate who can clearly defeat Trump,” the Vermont independent said. “And all of the polling out there has me defeating Trump. Especially in battleground states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and others — we’re doing very well against Trump.”
Hillary Clinton defeated Mr. Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, but went on to lose the general election to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Sanders said people who think Democrats need to nominate a moderate candidate to beat Mr. Trump are “dead wrong.”
“We tried that in 2016 — it didn’t quite work. That’s why we got Donald Trump,” he said.
Some Sanders supporters say they’re worried that party forces are lining up behind Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. this time around.
“I suppose there are some folks out there who say, ’Let’s anoint Joe Biden. Why do we have 24 candidates?’ I don’t agree with that,” Mr. Sanders said.
Over the weekend, Mr. Sanders took some thinly-veiled shots at Mr. Biden at the California Democratic Party convention.
Unlike many other 2020 presidential hopefuls, Mr. Biden did not attend the California confab, instead making an appearance at a Human Rights Campaign event in Ohio.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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