A Vermont Senator traveled to Silver Spring, Maryland last week and announced his support for one of a number of progressive Democratic candidates running for the state’s governorship—a non-national office whose primary election is almost a year away.
Because that Senator is Bernie Sanders, nobody batted an eye at the absurdity of it all.
There is no question that Sanders has incredible political clout as the de facto leader of the progressive wing of the national Democratic Party. But when it comes to elections for state offices—ones that take place so far in the future that five or so potential candidates are still mulling runs—Bernie should butt out.
Sanders endorsed for Maryland governor the qualified and competent former leader of the NAACP, Ben Jealous. There is nothing inherently wrong with the endorsement; Jealous has a strong track record as a civil rights leader. But it’s hard to argue that Sanders made an informed choice here—after all, he is not a Maryland resident, likely has little knowledge of Maryland politics, and overlooked other progressive candidates in favor of a man who played prominently in his 2016 presidential campaign.
For one, he overlooked Rich Madaleno, who has been relentlessly progressive since his election to the state Legislature in 2002, spearheading the successful fight to make Maryland the first state to legalize marriage equality on a ballot referendum and passing legislation protecting Planned Parenthood, the environment and people with disabilities. He’d also be the country’s first openly gay man elected to a governorship. And, oh yeah, he voted for Hillary Clinton.
Madaleno shrugged off Sanders’ endorsement of Jealous, suggesting that Sanders doesn’t have much sway in Maryland since Clinton dominated him in the state’s Democratic primary. With this statement, Madaleno missed the mark—it’s hard to deny that Sanders’ endorsement will be critical for a substantial number of primary voters, including progressives that Madaleno so desperately needs to win the nomination.
But Madaleno also missed the chance to say something else: that Bernie’s voice shouldn’t have authority in Maryland. Sanders doesn’t have the background necessary to tell Marylanders what to do, and he doesn’t have an interest in learning about the policy positions of the various candidates, weighing his options, and making an informed endorsement. He showed this when he rushed to endorse Jealous before all the candidates are even in the race, and likely without even having knowledge of Madaleno’s candidacy.
Sanders’ endorsement opens the door for another supposed rehash of the 2016 presidential primary—Jealous will be seen as the chosen candidate of the progressive wing based on just one (very high-profile) supporter. Never mind the fact that the state’s own most respected progressive leaders may support someone else, and never mind that Jealous’ policy positions are likely to be roughly in line with two or three other candidates. We saw a similar situation in Virginia, where two Democratic candidates for governor with practically identical policy positions were branded by the national media as the “Bernie candidate” and the “Hillary candidate” because of Sanders’ involvement in the race. Such divisiveness is exactly what Democrats don’t need in a 2018 cycle in which coming together is critical.
That said, it would be unfair to say Sanders should not be involved in races outside his home state. For instance, Maryland’s gubernatorial primary is entirely different from the 2018 primary race for Senate in West Virginia. In that race, there are two candidates—Joe Manchin, the incumbent and an unwavering moderate, and Paula Swearengin, an environmental advocate running as a progressive alternative. Here, one candidate falls in line with Sanders’ views and the other doesn’t. Sanders may see endorsing Swearengin as a way to push the national Democratic Party to the left (although he hasn’t endorsed anyone yet). While legitimizing a primary challenge to Manchin would be a colossal mistake on Sanders’ part, it would at least be consistent with his political aims.
Sanders’ voice is welcome in national politics; his advocacy has benefitted progressive Democrats around the country, and he is welcome to speak out when there is a Democratic candidate whose record is significantly more in line with the left wing of the party than his/her opponent.
But here, in Maryland, he has overstepped. Almost a year from a gubernatorial primary election that could see eight or ten candidates, nearly all of whom will have progressive bona fides, he’s labeled Ben Jealous as “the progressive” before most Marylanders have even started paying attention. And that’s a shame.