Bernie Sanders takes aim at 'corporate Democrats' blaming progressives for House losses

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is joining the fight against Democrats blaming their left wing for a less-than-perfect election day.

While Sanders is "very proud of the hard work that the progressive community put into electing Joe Biden," the results coming out of the House and Senate were "disappointing," he detailed in an op-ed published Thursday in USA Today. But "corporate Democrats" blaming "so-called far-left policies like Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal for election defeats" are "dead wrong," Sanders continues.

As Sanders notes, every one of the 112 co-sponsors of Medicare-for-all won their elections, and only one of the 98 co-sponsors of the Green New Deal lost their election. In contrast, the vast majority those who lost their seats did not support those progressive policies. "It turns out that supporting universal health care during a pandemic and enacting major investments in renewable energy as we face the existential threat to our planet from climate change is not just good public policy," Sanders remarked. "It also is good politics." Other progressive policies likewise won big in individual states, namely Florida's vote to increase the minimum wage and measures to legalize marijuana across several states.

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Sanders' rebuttal comes after House Democrats were projected to lose at least six seats from the House and so far failed to flip the Senate fully in their favor. Some moderate Democrats who narrowly retained their seats blamed "socialism" for the losses; Progressives in turn said the Democratic party needs to organize better to regain a stronger majority.