Bernie Sanders Endorses Independent Over Democrat in Lt. Gov. Race For California

Imagine if Bernie didn’t have to run as a Democrat.

Thanks to California’s non-partisan primary, the Our Revolution endorsed Gayle McLaughlin can.

Why?

Because in California, (except for the presidential race), the rules are the same for every candidate and voter, regardless of party.

In fact, in 2010, California voters decided to get rid of party primaries altogether!

And now, there are candidates from different backgrounds testing the opportunity.

McLaughlin is the former mayor of Richmond, CA, and was a member of the Green Party, who has endorsed her statewide candidacy. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, McLaughlin noted, “I decided that at a certain point I had to do a statewide race. If I ran statewide we could spread the Progressive Alliance farther and move it to a larger stage.”

McLaughlin is one of 8 candidates vying for the post occupied by Gavin Newsom.

Democrats include Eleni Kounalakis and Jeff Bleich. David Fennell is the Republican choice and Tim Ferreira is running as a Libertarian.

McLaughlin’s independent candidacy is highlighted by her fierce opposition to Citizens United, advocating for Single-Payer Medicare, Free College in California, and the Fair Share Tax or Millionaires Tax.

On her website McLaughlin states:

We need changes that assure more integrity in our elections:

1. In the 2020 presidential primary, the 4 million California voters who are No Party Preference (NPP), like myself, should get their ballots in the mail and it should be a ballot that allows us to vote for the candidates of the parties who allow it. We should not be forced to ask for an “NPP/Dem” ballot.
2. “No Party Preference” should be identified clearly and specifically as the option if the voter wants to be independent of all political parties. The lack of clarity had many registering with the “American Independent Party, when they wanted to be NPP.
3. We also need uniformity in poll worker training, uniformity in poll procedures, and a robust audit of all ballots including Late Vote by Mail ballots.

Bernie Sanders Support

Bernie Sanders has supported her candidacy and her commitment to run a campaign free of corporate money.

“With the support of Bernie and Our Revolution, we are going to win this race and take the people’s movement to Sacramento. For too long, corporate contributions and lobbyists have set the agenda in the Capitol – it’s time for thousands upon thousands of us across this beautiful state to say ‘No’ to corporate rule and ‘Yes’ to our shared power.”