Bernie Sanders to Huddle With Progressive Leaders in Burlington

By David Siders and Natasha Korecki, Politico

21 November 18

he Sanders Institute, the Vermont-based think tank formed by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wife, Jane, in 2017, has quietly lined up progressive activists from across the country for a three-day gathering next week in Burlington, assembling a speaker lineup billed as “thought leaders from across the country and around the world.”

Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, is expected to speak at the event’s opening but will not make any announcement about his plans for a potential 2020 campaign, sources familiar with the events said.

Listed speakers include New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Our Revolution President Nina Turner, intellectual and activist Cornel West, “The Young Turks” founder Cenk Uygur, environmentalist Bill McKibben, writer and activist Naomi Klein, and Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

RoseAnn DeMoro, former executive director of National Nurses United, the powerful union that supported Sanders in his unsuccessful 2016 presidential run, is listed as a speaker. So is Peter Knowlton, national president of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, whose union also endorsed Sanders against Hillary Clinton.

The actors John Cusack and Danny Glover are also expected to speak.

The event coincides with the release of Sanders’ new book, “Where We Go from Here: Two Years in the Resistance,” and follows a furious spate of campaigning by Sanders ahead of the midterm elections. Sanders, a favorite of progressives, has polled well ahead of the 2020 election, trailing only former Vice President Joe Biden in a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll of Democratic voters released last week.

Blue America PAC’s Howie Klein, a prominent blogger, activist and Sanders supporter, said he was invited to the event several months ago but cannot attend because he will be out of the country. He said preliminary planning appeared to include panels and, potentially, music.

The institute, a nonprofit, is legally separate from Sanders’ political activities. It said on a nonpublicized link provided to invited guests that “the core intent of the Sanders Institute Gathering is to share replicable policies, develop actionable steps, establish ongoing networks and articulate a progressive vision.“

The event is scheduled to run Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at the performing arts center Main Street Landing in Burlington.

Sanders is scheduled to speak ahead of the event, on Nov. 27, at George Washington University. The following week, on Dec. 3, he will host a livestreamed town hall event on climate change.

Sanders easily won reelection to his Senate seat in November, receiving 67.4 percent of the vote. Like other potential 2020 candidates, he focused his midterm election campaigning on helping Democrats — including in key presidential states — raising and donating some $2.6 million while traveling to 18 states.