Biden 2020 is taking on some very Bernie 2016 vibes.
Just hours after Joe Biden announced his 2020 candidacy on Thursday, his campaign also revealed it had hired Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2016 national press secretary. Symone Sanders will serve as Biden's senior adviser, a surprising addition seeing as Sanders criticized the former vice president just a few weeks ago, The Daily Beast reports.
Sanders built a prominent name for herself as part of Bernie Sanders' 2016 run, notably bringing the Black Lives Matter cause to a campaign criticized for its lack of diversity. She previously said she was waiting to make a 2020 move because there were "a lot of good candidates this time."
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When Biden faced accusations of inappropriately touching women last month, though, Sanders "chastised" him for joking about it, The Daily Beast writes. Yet she did it in a way that almost seemed like she was preparing for a Biden hire, suggesting that Biden say "I'm sorry" so those words would appear in "all the chyrons and headlines."
Sanders' move to Biden's side comes not long after Bernie Sanders lost several of his top 2016 staffers just a month into his 2020 campaign. Bernie Sanders' 2016 staff was also marred by sexual harassment allegations that apparently went unacknowledged, though he's since built a leadership team featuring a 70-percent woman staff. About a month ago, Sanders' staffers also took the unprecedented step of unionizing, and Sanders heralded his presidential campaign as the first to do so.
