FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Charles Booker on Monday endorsed Bernie Sanders for president, creating a sharp contrast with a leading rival in the race for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky.
Booker described Sanders, a democratic socialist from Vermont, as the candidate with the best ideas and best chance of defeating Republican President Donald Trump.
Another Kentucky Democratic candidate, Amy McGrath, endorsed Joe Biden for president in late January. McGrath, a retired Marine combat aviator, described the former vice president as someone who can “return honor and integrity to the Oval Office.”
McGrath and Booker are among several Democrats seeking their party’s nomination in the May primary to challenge Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the November election.
Booker, a state representative from Louisville, said he was joining Sanders’ “bold populist movement.”
“He knows that we can’t accept leadership that ignores structural racism and inequity,” Booker said of Sanders. “He knows that health care is a right, college should be free, and that we won’t defeat corporate greed by running as a bland moderate. This is our chance to take our power back, and we are not going to wait.”
The competing endorsements reflect the contrasts facing Kentucky Democrats in choosing a Senate nominee and for Democrats nationally in picking a candidate to challenge Trump.
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