Harry Reid reportedly talked Bernie Sanders out of a primary challenge against Obama in 2012

Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama.
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is in the middle of his second bid for the presidency, but there was apparently a moment in 2012 when he considered launching a primary challenge against then-President Barack Obama, The Atlantic reported Wednesday.

Obama's re-election campaign manager Jim Messina told The Atlantic — and multiple sources confirmed his account — Sanders informed his fellow Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) he was thinking about entering the race. Leahy was reportedly alarmed by the news and tipped off Messina about the possibility. Messina said the re-election campaign was "absolutely panicked," because incumbents who face a real primary race tend to lose the general election.

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Still, The Atlantic reports, the episode produced a tense, if mostly dormant, relationship between Obama and Sanders. For example, in 2013, Sanders reportedly tore into the president for selling out to the GOP over Social Security benefits. Obama reportedly pushed back forcefully, and a number of senators told The Atlantic they were struck by the exchange.

But while it's evident Sanders isn't Obama's first choice to win the 2020 Democratic nomination, there's no indication he'll seek to prevent Sanders' victory, and both camps have attempted to downplay their differences. Read more at The Atlantic.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.