Bernie Sanders backs Biden in New York Times essay: ‘He must win’

WASHINGTON – Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Saturday that he will back President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential campaign, bucking the growing number of leaders in the Democratic Party who say the president should step aside.

“I will do all that I can to see that President Biden is re-elected,” Sanders, I-Vt., wrote in an op-ed published in the New York Times. 

“Why?” the senator continued. “Despite my disagreements with him on particular issues, he has been the most effective president in the modern history of our country and is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump — a demagogue and pathological liar.”

Biden has been facing pressure from members of his own party to no longer run for re-election in the 2024 presidential race following a disastrous performance at the June 27 CNN debate. Since then, more than a dozen lawmakers have openly called on Biden to step aside out of fear that he could not beat former President Donald Trump.

Sanders, who is a registered Independent but often votes with the Democratic Party, wrote in the op-ed that he has disagreed on a number of issues with Biden, including how the president has handled the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

But the Vermont Senator criticized the media for focusing on Biden’s cognitive capabilities and criticized Democrats who “have joined that circular firing squad.”

“Yes. I know: Mr. Biden is old, is prone to gaffes, walks stiffly and had a disastrous debate with Mr. Trump,” Sanders wrote. “But this I also know: A presidential election is not an entertainment contest. It does not begin or end with a 90-minute debate.”

Biden has pushed back against his detractors, repeatedly saying he will continue in the race.

“I am running and we're gonna win! I'm not going to change that,” Biden said at a rally in Detroit on Friday, where he was greeted by supporters chanting “Don't you quit.”

Members of the president’s team also met with lawmakers on Thursday to soothe worries of Biden’s chances in the 2024 election, which Sanders was a part of. At the time, Sanders called on the Biden campaign to be "stronger and clearer in defending their own record" as they try to win voters back.

Sanders underscored that sentiment in his op-ed, saying that Biden and his supporters should “focus on these issues.”

“Let me say this as emphatically as I can: For the sake of our kids and future generations, he must win,” Sanders said.