Sisters and Brothers -
Bad news. Good news. Bad news. Good news.
The BAD NEWS is that our great country is in decline. Poll after poll shows that Americans understand that the U.S. is moving in the wrong direction. Today, we have unprecedented income and wealth inequality with the rich getting much richer while working families struggle to survive. We have a corrupt campaign finance system which allows billionaires to buy elections and undermine our democracy. Our health care system is broken and widely expensive. We have a major housing crisis with 800,000 homeless and millions of families spending half their incomes or more on housing. And on and on it goes.
And, to top it off, we have a president who is a pathological liar, an authoritarian, a kleptocrat and a warmonger.
The GOOD NEWS is that the American people, from coast to coast, are tired of establishment politics and policies which tinker around the edges. They know that the current economic and political systems are broken and corrupt. They want elected officials who have the guts to stand up to the Oligarchy and bring meaningful improvement to their lives. They want REAL change and they are fighting back.
The result: all across the country strong progressive candidates are taking on the political establishment ... and they are winning.
Look around.
Last November, Zohran Mamdani took on the entire Democratic establishment, the Republican establishment, the President of the United States and the oligarchs of New York to win a resounding victory in our country’s largest city.
Analilia Mejía, a labor organizer and grassroots activist, came from nowhere to win the Democratic primary and then a strong victory in a special election in a so-called “purple” congressional district in New Jersey. She is now Congresswoman Mejia.
The establishment candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine, Governor Janet Mills, dropped out of the race. Polls showed that she was far behind the progressive candidate, Graham Platner.
Recently, the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and other unions in California submitted over 1.5 million signatures to get a Billionaire Wealth Tax on the ballot -- a ballot initiative that, despite opposition from the Republican and Democratic establishment, is leading in a new poll released just yesterday.
But we are not just winning in so-called Blue States.
Bob Brooks, a firefighter and union leader we endorsed the day he announced his Congressional run in Pennsylvania won a multi-way Democratic Primary and is now running in one of the most contested districts in the country.
Brian Poindexter, an ironworker and union leader, won a landslide victory in a Democratic congressional primary over establishment candidates in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District.
And it is not just political campaigns.
All across the country - in blue states, red states and purple states - working people are resisting the construction of Artificial Intelligence data centers being built by Big Tech Oligarchs like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. They want AI to work for ALL, not just the Big Tech billionaires.
Two months ago, over 8 million Americans came out for No Kings rallies in every state across the country. That was the largest day of demonstrations in the history of the United States, as people protested the authoritarianism, oligarchy and kleptocracy of the Trump administration.
The BAD NEWS
As progressives, we are forced to engage in a war on two fronts. First, we are leading the fight against Trump and his cult of the individual Republican Party. We will not accept tax breaks for billionaires and massive cuts to healthcare, nutrition, and education. We will not accept ICE terrorizing communities all across the country. We will not accept racist gerrymandering which denies the Black community its fair share of representation. We will not accept an oligarchic government which, day after day, attacks the needs of working families. We will not accept an administration which believes that climate change is a “hoax,” and that women do not have the right to control their own bodies.
But, sadly, as we help lead the fight against Trumpism, we must also do battle against a Democratic establishment increasingly out-of-touch with the working class of our country. This is an establishment more interested in raising campaign contributions from billionaires than taking them on, an establishment which often supports candidates not because they are popular and likely to win, but because they back the needs of powerful special interests.
The Democratic establishment must recognize that in the year 2026 it is simply not good enough to be anti-Trump. Democrats must fight for an agenda that takes on the greed of the oligarchs and addresses the enormous crises facing ordinary Americans. It must reach out to the working class of our country, to the young and disaffected.
Talking about "affordability" is not good enough. Democrats must pass a tax on billionaires and use the significant revenue raised to create good-paying jobs as we improve housing, childcare, education and the needs of seniors.
Talking about the need to overturn Citizens United is not good enough. Democrats need to end billionaire funded super PACs now, including in Democratic primaries. Democracy will not survive if billionaires continue to buy elections.
Talking about a broken health care system is not good enough. Democrats need to end the embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care for everyone and support Medicare for All.
Talking about studies regarding the impact of Al and robotics is not good enough. Democrats need to support a moratorium on the construction of new data centers until we have policies in place to ensure this revolutionary technology works for ALL of us, and not just the Big Tech billionaires.
Needless to say, this is not the agenda of the Democratic Establishment and their wealthy campaign funders. You know that. I know that.
The GOOD NEWS
The progressive movement is growing stronger every day. Not only are the progressive candidates that you and I support winning primary elections and leading in the polls, more and more Americans now understand that it is too late for status-quo politics and that we need a bold agenda that gives us an economy and government that works for ALL, not just the few.
In the last month we have had great rallies in Ohio with Brian Poindexter, in Minnesota with Peggy Flanagan, in Michigan with Abdul El-Sayed, and in Maine with Graham Platner and Troy Jackson. All of them are running great, grassroots campaigns. In June I will be in Texas, where we have extraordinary opportunities, and other western states.
Sisters and brothers, we are right now in the midst of a struggle between a growing progressive movement that mobilizes around a shared vision of prosperity, security and dignity for all people, against one that defends oligarchy and massive global income and wealth inequality.
It is a struggle that, for ourselves and future generations, we cannot lose.
Needless to say, I intend to do my part — both inside the beltway and traveling throughout the country — to stand up for the working class of this country. In the days, weeks, and months ahead I hope you will join me in that struggle.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
👋 Before you go... 👋
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Over the next several months Bernie is going to be fighting for our progressive agenda and working hard to elect progressive candidates all over this country who have the guts not only to stand up to Trumpism, but to take on the monied interests of both parties and fight for a working class that has been ignored for far too long.
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