Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has ended the suspense. On Monday he announced that he will run ... for another term in the United States Senate.
It's news that comes as a surprise to absolutely no one, but hey, it's something.
"Our struggle to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent — a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice — must continue. And that is why I'm running for reelection," Sanders explained in a statement, according to the Burlington Free Press.
His Senate campaign already had $6.9 million of cash on hand as of the end of March. Although Sanders is expected to decline a nomination from the Vermont Democratic Party, he is likely to accept the party's endorsement and offer to run a joint campaign.
"As he has for many campaigns, Bernie will contribute to and participate in the Vermont Democratic coordinated campaign," Sanders campaign spokeswoman Arianna Jones explained in a statement of her own.
Will he face any serious opposition in the Green Mountain State? That is not clear. The Vermont Republican Party itself does not seem to have any plans for defeating Sanders.
"At the moment, there are no official candidates on our side of the aisle to oppose him," Mike Donohue, spokesman for the Vermont Republican Party and chairman of the Chittenden County Republican Party, told Salon. "There have been a number of individuals that have expressed interest and talked to the state party and some of the county chairs about running, but no one as yet has taken the plunge and announced officially for the Senate. And it's not clear at this point that there will be a Republican candidate."
Donohue also observed that running for a political office is always a difficult task — but that's especially true when the incumbent is a politician with the name recognition of a Bernie Sanders.
"It's a daunting prospect for anyone to run for office, and especially to run statewide against an entrenched incumbent," Donohue told Salon. "Sen. Sanders first ran for Congress 30 years ago this year. If he wins another term, that will take him into his fourth decade in Washington. He's got near-universal name recognition in this state and nationwide, for that matter. That's a very tall mountain to climb for someone looking to run for office."
When it comes to one of the few Vermont Republicans who has publicly discussed running, defense attorney Jasdeep Pannu, Donohue seemed skeptical of his efforts.
"He's not someone who's a known quantity among Republicans and I'm not very familiar with him," Donohue told Salon. "I don't know that he's actually announced, from what I've seen at the moment. I don't believe that there are any officially announced and filed candidates on the Republican side."
Even as Sanders announced that he would seek another Senate term in 2018, however, a recent report by Politico offered a scathing assessment of Our Revolution, the group that Sanders formed to help the political movement created by his presidential campaign assist other candidates with similar political ideals.
Politico reported that "an extensive review of the Sanders-inspired group depicts an organization in disarray — operating primarily as a promotional vehicle for its leader and sometimes even snubbing candidates aligned with Sanders":
Our Revolution has shown no ability to tip a major Democratic election in its favor — despite possessing Sanders’ email list, the envy of the Democratic Party — and can claim no major wins in 2018 as its own.
The result has left many Sanders supporters disillusioned, feeling that the group that was supposed to harness the senator's grass-roots movement is failing in its mission. The problems have also fueled doubts about Sanders’ organizational ability heading into 2020, even after his out-of-nowhere near-march to the nomination two years ago. Critics of the Vermont independent had been worried he’d have a juggernaut-in-waiting to fuel a second presidential campaign, but that anxiety has faded after watching Our Revolution the past year and a half.
The Politico report also claimed that people involved in Our Revolution have expressed concerns that its president, Nina Turner, is using her position to get back at the Democratic National Committee for its perceived the 2016 campaign, to shore up support for her own possible entry into electoral politics and to hire an unqualified friend with questionable credentials as her chief of staff. The report also described the organization as having fundraising problems and described how a founding board member had resigned over concerns that the group wasn't sufficiently focusing on issues of importance to the Latino community.
It is unclear whether the timing of Sanders' announcement was connected to the Politico article.
Donohue of the Vermont Republican Party insists that the GOP hasn't entirely abandoned hope of flipping Sanders' seat, despite the fact that it has no candidate and Sanders remains massively popular. "I wouldn't want to say we're not looking at Sen. Sanders' race, or Congressman [Peter] Welch's race for that matter," Donohue gamely told Salon. "It's just, when you're dealing with very long-time incumbents with very large campaign war chests and very high name recognition, it's a tall order for any candidate."
As Aki Soga, reader engagement editor at the Burlington Free Press, recently wrote in an editorial, Sanders' 2018 re-election announcement is not really the news item that his most loyal supporters are hoping to hear about.
Bernie Sanders’ Monday announcement that he is seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate sheds no light on unanswered questions about the Vermont independent’s political future. The real cliffhanger is, will he make another run for president in 2020?
Few people doubted Sanders would seek re-election, and the senator himself has for months answered questions about his plans by saying an announcement was coming soon that should surprise no one.
That bigger question, the one about the election two years from now, remains unanswered.
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