Sen. Bernie Sanders formally endorsed former Democrat Rep. Tom Perriello for Governor of Virginia Tuesday.
“We need to elect progressives at every level of government if we are going to beat back the dangerous agenda of the Trump Administration and its Republican allies,” Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. “Now more than ever we need people in elected office who will fight for middle-income and working families.”
“That’s why I am so pleased today to endorse Tom Perriello for Governor of Virginia,” he continued.
Perriello entered the race in January and opposes current Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam. Northam had a presumptive support of the establishment wing of the party at the time, and Perriello was quick to stylize his campaign as a continuation of the Sanders national movement.
He raised more than $1.1 million after a month in the race. The campaign’s most recent filing has yet to be published. Northam headed into 2017 with $2.5 million in donations, according to The Daily Progress.
Bernie Sanders started a national movement based on a fight for a “living wage,” as well as other popular stances like a free college education. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was ultimately unable to garner the majority of voters that supported Sanders, which contributed to her loss in November.
Virginia insiders expected Sanders to get in the race on behalf of Perriello. The campaign announced it hired several former Sanders staffers in February, including Julia Barnes, who served as Sanders’ national field director.
Geoff Skelley of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics tried to temper comparisons between Perriello and Sanders during a January interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“While Perriello is going up against Virginia’s party establishment, he’s a Democrat – unlike Sanders, who was an independent prior to 2016 – so it’s not surprising to me that a couple of Clinton campaign staffers (Ian Sams and Remi Yamamoto) have just taken positions on Perriello’s staff,” Skelley said two weeks after Perriello announced his candidacy.
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