It’s a family affair. Both Bernie Sanders’ son and step-daughter are branching into politics.
Levi Sanders, a legal services analyst, recently announced his bid for Congress in New Hampshire’s 1st District. A seat left open after Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter’s retirement, there are seven other candidates joining the congressional race competing for the nomination.
In an interview with WMUR, Sen. Sanders said he was “very proud of Levi’s commitment to public service and his years of work on behalf of low income and working people. Levi will be running his own campaign, in his own way, with his own ideas. The decision as to who to vote for will be determined by the people of New Hampshire’s first district, and nobody else.”
His motto: “it is time to demand that we have a system which represents the 99 percent and not the 1 percent who have never had it so good.”
Levi Sanders, 48, said he will focus on a “Medicare for all health care system,” tuition-free college and raising the minimum wage, according to NPR. Many of his policies “echo” those of his father, but could work well with the Democrats of the state, which his father won easily in the 2016 presidential primary.
While his done is running for the Democratic nomination for Congress, Carina Driscoll, Sanders’ step-daughter, is running as an independent for mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Driscoll is up against another independent candidate and a “Democratic incumbent she once campaigned for,” according to NPR.
While Driscoll, 43, served on the Burlington City Council and the school board, she started her political career at 27 when she was elected to the state legislature.
Sanders said in a statement to the Burlington Free Press when Driscoll announced her decision to run, “today is Carina’s day and her words and her ideas should be the focus, not anyone else’s.”
Driscoll’s campaign motto is to bring a “‘people-led process’ back city government” and make it clear that “Burlington is not for sale.” She credits witnessing Sanders career as a “front-row seat to what was possible.”
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