ALSO SEE: Sanders to Run as an Independent in 2018

Bernie Sanders: 'I Am an Independent'

By Nicole Gaudiano, USA TODAY

24 October 17

 

en. Bernie Sanders put to rest questions about his party affiliation, telling a Fox News reporter he’ll continue to run as an independent.

“I am an independent and I have always run in Vermont as an independent, while I caucus with the Democrats in the United States Senate,” Sanders said Sunday after an appearance in Rollinsford, N.H. “That’s what I’ve been doing for a long time and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”

Sanders, who ran for president in 2016 as a Democrat, made his comments to a reporter after headlining a Strafford County Democratic Committee fundraising dinner.

It was his second visit in two months to the first-in-the-nation primary state, where he beat Hillary Clinton by more than 22 percentage points in 2016.

Sanders has not made an official announcement on whether he'll run for re-election in 2018. He sought to clarify his remarks in a statement to the Burlington Free Press.

"Obviously, the people of Vermont will be the first to learn about my 2018 political decision, a decision I will announce within the next several months," he said in a statement.

Sanders, whose state has no party registration, is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history.

On Friday, Democratic National Committee member Bob Mulholland of California tried to get a DNC committee to pass a resolution urging Sanders and Sen. Angus King of Maine, both independents, to run for re-election as Democrats in 2018.

But the committee defeated it, denying the resolution a vote before the full DNC on Saturday at its meeting in Las Vegas.