Bernie Is Now The Front Runner, But We Still Have Work To Do

Fellow Berners. Fellow DSA canvassers. Fellow intersectional feminists. Fellow environmentalists.

Congratulations.

After losing in 2016, five years of gaslighting by the establishment, and a primary season filled with smears and centrism, Bernie Sanders is now the front runner in the Democratic Party Primary.

Bernie won the popular vote in Iowa and won New Hampshire despite a crowded field of candidates that could have split the vote against him.

Yet he prevailed, and prevailed for two reasons. 1. Bernie’s policies speak to the material needs of the working class and 2. We campaigned our asses off for him.

My twitter is filled with DSA members and Bernie volunteers telling the heart warming tales of the their experiences, knocking on doors, talking to the people about what is important to them, getting them to show up and vote. My DSA chapter is growing by the day because our members, old and new, are eager to go door to door and talk about Bernie.

Now, even MSNBC has to admit that Bernie is winning. Newsweek released a story just days ago that Bernie has the most P.O.C. support out of any candidate, putting to death the idiotic “Bernie Bro” argument.

Comrades and Berners, we did that!

However, while winning New Hampshire is something to celebrate, we cannot allow ourselves to assume that we have won the class war. Bernie is now the front runner, but the nomination is anything but locked.

The longer the other candidates stay in the race, the less delegates Bernie will get from each state, even when he wins the popular vote. This increases the odds of a contested convention, which increases the odds that our old friends in the DNC will nominate a rat like Buttigieg or an abusive boss like Klobuchar.

We also have a new enemy emerging from the pit that is U.S. politics. Mike Bloomberg, the slightly more polite version of Donald Trump, is trying to buy the nomination. Bloomberg is hiring staffers at a very competitive pay rate, spending millions on ad time, and is hiring influencers to increase his social media presence. Also, Bloomberg is focusing on states that are likely to help Bernie the most, such as my home state of California.

Bloomberg’s campaign in many ways is laughable. We can laugh at the oligarch who thinks he can just buy an election, but remember the last time we thought it was laughable for a billionaire to just buy the presidency, well, we all know who is president now right?

Bloomberg is blatantly trying to buy the Democratic nomination, and sadly, he might succeed if we take the rest of the election for granted. Bloomberg has quickly risen to third place in several polls, despite the constant revelations about his, problematic (and that is putting it lightly) past.

Even though Bernie is the front-runner we cannot assume he has the nomination locked, not while the looming threat of another oligarch hijacking the election exists. Do not shrug off Bloomberg, and above all, do not think we can slow down our campaigning.

Bernie won New Hampshire and we should celebrate, but then we need to cure our hangovers and get back to work. Knock on doors, call and text everyone we know, post about Bernie ;-), and above all, VOTE!

Socialism is now the front runner, let’s show the world why it’s going to win.