Bernie Sanders is a Democrat 'forever now,' according to campaign manager

Jeff Weaver says Bernie Sanders is a Democrat &quot;for life&quot;

(Image credit: Bloomberg/YouTube)

published 21 April 2016

Jeff Weaver, Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign manager, spoke with Mark Halperin and John Heilemann on Bloomberg's With All Due Respect on Wednesday, and Heilemann asked Weaver about his comment Tuesday night — after Sanders' loss in the New York primary — that the Sanders team would try to poach superdelegates from Hillary Clinton this summer even if Clinton was ahead in the popular vote and pledged delegates. Weaver said he meant what he said, under the right circumstances.

"Well, look, clearly we would have to substantially close the delegate lead that the secretary currently has," Weaver said (at the 18:06 mark in the video below). "If it looks like it does today, that would seem to be a fruitless endeavor. If we have substantially closed the gap, if Sen. Sanders has had a run of victories, if the general election polls continue to show what they show now and have consistently shown for a couple months, which is he does better against every Republican than does the secretary.... if that's the circumstance, then it does make sense to talk to superdelegates who want to win."

Halperin slipped in a question at the end about what Sanders, who calls himself an independent, will do if he loses to Clinton. "If Sen. Sanders is not the nominee, will he stay in the Democratic Party forever now?" Halperin asked. "Well, he is a Democrat. He's said he's a Democrat, and he's gonna be supporting the Democratic nominee, whoever that is," Weaver said, which appears to go beyond Sanders stating only that he is running as a Democrat. "But he's a member of the Democratic Party now for life?" Halperin asked again. "Yes, he is," Weaver said. "Yes, he is." Watch below (at the 22:25 mark). Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.