facing the first large crowd of his campaign, May 31, 2015 In a preview of his campaign, Sanders told the
Associated Press on April 29, 2015, that he would release "very specific proposals" to increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations, offer free higher education at public universities, and pass a single‑payer Medicare-for-All healthcare system. He also noted his support for substantial regulation of
Wall Street and his opposition to the
NAFTA and
CAFTA trade agreements and to the
Keystone XL pipeline. He made the cornerstone of his campaign the reversal of what he calls the "obscene levels" of
income and
wealth inequality that have eroded the middle class over the last 40 years. Sanders said his campaign would focus on what he considered "real
family values". "The right has claimed the mantle of 'family values' for far too long. When my Republican colleagues use the term they're usually talking about things like opposition to contraception, denying a woman's right to choose, opposition to gay rights, and support for abstinence-only education," Sanders said. His "real family values" included paid sick time, paid vacations, and access to paid family leave. On abortion rights, he remarked that " are saying to every woman in America, that she cannot control her own bod. I disagree. Let's say it loud and clear: Women control their bodies—not the government". Sanders stated that he would run a positive campaign with "serious debates on serious issues" and that he had "never run a negative political ad in life". Sanders said that if he were elected president, his cabinet "would not be dominated by representatives of Wall Street". He cited
Paul Krugman,
Joseph Stiglitz, and
Robert Reich as potential cabinet members. In December 2015, the
Democratic National Committee suspended the Sanders campaign's access to its voter data after a staffer viewed data from Hillary Clinton's campaign during a firewall failure. The staffer denied accessing the data but the DNC confirmed it and Sanders apologized. The Sanders campaign criticized the DNC's reaction as excessive and threatened possible legal action unless the Committee restored its access. The campaign claimed it had warned the DNC about glitches in the voter file program months before. On December 18, 2015, the campaign filed a lawsuit, stating the committee had unfairly suspended its access. The DNC and the Sanders campaign struck a deal the same day that restored the campaign's access to voter data. Addressing the platform of the front-running Republican candidate
Donald Trump in an appearance on
Face the Nation on December 27, Sanders said that "any of Trump's supporters are working-class people and they're angry, and they're angry because they're working longer hours for lower wages, they're angry because their jobs have left this country and gone to China or other low-wage countries, they're angry because they can't afford to send their kids to college so they can't retire with dignity". Sanders said that while he believed these are legitimate fears, Trump had "converted them into anger against Mexicans, anger against Muslims" rather than facing the real issue the American people need to confront, "the greed of corporate America".
Fundraising Unlike the majority of other presidential candidates, Sanders did not pursue funding through a
Super PAC, instead focusing on small, individual donations. Saying, "We now have a political situation where billionaires are ... able to buy elections and candidates", Sanders called for an overturn of
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: "To equate the ability of billionaires to buy elections with 'freedom of speech' is totally absurd. The Supreme Court is paving the way toward an
oligarchic form of society in which a handful of billionaires like the
Koch brothers and
Sheldon Adelson will control our political process." Sanders raised over $1,500,000 (~$ in ) in the first 24 hours after he announced his presidential campaign on April 30, 2015. This was greater than the amount raised by any of the Republican candidates in the first 24 hours after their respective announcements. By May 5, Sanders's campaign had received approximately 75,000 contributions and had raised $3,000,000. Required reports to the Federal Election Commission in July 2015 showed a total of $15,200,000 in donations to the Sanders campaign with an average donation of $31. On September 30,
The New York Times reported that Sanders had raised $26,000,000 over the preceding three months, just short of Hillary Clinton's total of $28,000,000. But Clinton had held ten times as many campaign donor events as Sanders with many contributions of $2,700, the maximum amount allowed, while Sanders's contributions had mostly been under $200. Sanders raised $20,000,000 in the month of January 2016, $5,000,000 more than Clinton during the same time period, with an average donation of $27. During March, Sanders raised $44 million from a donor base roughly twice as large as Clinton's. April donations were significantly lower, totaling $25.8 million. In April 2016, campaign finance watchdogs and Sanders supporters expressed concerns about the
Hillary Victory Fund, which Clinton supporters represented as a fundraising committee composed of Clinton's presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and 32 state party committees. The setup allowed Clinton to bypass donation limits and to solicit checks of $350,000 or more from supporters. According to
Politico, "the Hillary Victory Fund appears to be pushing the bounds of joint fundraising in its online advertising campaign, which has included many ads urging readers to "Stop Trump" or to support Clinton." In April, a Sanders campaign lawyer sent an open letter to the DNC that alleged that "the victory fund was essentially a pass-through to allow Clinton to benefit from contributions that far exceed the amount that her campaign could legally accept." In a news release accompanying the letter, Sanders campaign manager
Jeff Weaver said "it is unprecedented for the DNC to allow a joint committee to be exploited to the benefit of one candidate in the midst of a contested nominating contest." Following the nomination of Clinton in June, Sanders thanked his campaign volunteers, saying, "Let me also thank the hundreds of thousands of volunteers in every state in our country who worked so hard on our campaign and the millions of our contributors who showed the world that we could run a successful national campaign based on small individual contributions – 2 1/2 million of them."
Superdelegate support A
superdelegate is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically, not elected by voters in a primary or caucus. Superdelegates include distinguished party leaders and elected officials, including all Democratic members of the House and Senate and sitting Democratic governors. Other superdelegates are chosen during the primary season. Democratic superdelegates are free to support any candidate for the presidential nomination. As of May, the
Democratic Party Superdelegates overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton. On
Face the Nation,
John Dickerson asked Sanders whether the Democratic system was "rigged". Sanders replied, "I wouldn't use the word 'rigged' [...] but what is really dumb is that you have closed primaries, like in New York State, where three million people who are Democrats or Republicans could not participate, where you have a situation where over 400 superdelegates came on board Clinton's campaign before anybody else was in the race, eight months before the first vote was cast." Sanders went on to say that in the states in which he had won landslide victories he believed that the superdelegates "should listen to the people in those states and vote for the candidate chosen by the people."
Speaking events , August 2015 Sanders often drew large crowds, with many filled to capacity and some with additional supporters outside who could not fit in the venue but still wanted to attend. Early in his campaign, the media favorably compared his rallies' attendance to
Hillary Clinton's. Events scheduled by his campaign were drawing "overflow crowds" around the country. Sanders drew more than 700 supporters to a mid-June event in Iowa, which
The Wall Street Journal noted was "the same number who went to a Hillary Clinton event on Sunday that featured a buffet table and a live band." After an estimated 3,000 people attended an event in Minneapolis, Sanders said he was "Stunned. Stunned. I mean I had to fight my way to get into the room. Standing room only. Minneapolis was literally beyond belief." On July 1, a crowd of at least 10,000 came to see Sanders in
Madison, Wisconsin, nearly twice the size of the biggest crowd of his main primary challenger, Hillary Clinton. A Sanders campaign event in
Council Bluffs, Iowa, on July 3, drew over 2,500 supporters. To date, this was the largest audience for any 2016 presidential candidate in
Iowa. Sanders drew a crowd of over 11,000 on July 18 in
Phoenix, Arizona. At that time this had been the largest crowd of any 2016 candidate, of any party. On a three-day West Coast tour in August,
Black Lives Matter activists interrupted an event in Seattle. The activists removed Sanders from the podium and Sanders looked on as they spoke. The campaign eventually shut down the event. On the following day Sanders spoke to a crowd of 28,000 supporters at the
Moda Center in
Portland, Oregon, and on August 10 more than 27,000 people showed up for his rally in the
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. On September 14, 2015, Sanders spoke at
Liberty University, a highly
Republican-influenced college, during their
Convocation. In September 2016, Sanders made three speeches in New Hampshire on Labor Day, during his first campaign swing since the launch of his political group, Our Revolution. In these, he attempted to convince the progressives who had backed him into backing Clinton. In doing so, he faced down vociferous objections from audience members who still supported third-party candidates such as Jill Stein, and those who objected to Clinton as their party's nominee.
Polls Nationwide, Sanders had considerable support among white and liberal-leaning Democrats but considerably less among nonwhite and moderate or conservative Democrats. An April 2015 report by
The New York Times suggested that "nly about a quarter of Democratic‑leaners hold the consistently liberal views that would potentially put them to the left of Mrs. Clinton". A June 2015
New York Times report said, "in an poll this week, 95 percent of nonwhite Democratic voters said they could see themselves supporting Mrs. Clinton for the nomination in the primary. Only about one-quarter of respondents said they could see themselves voting for Mr. Sanders". Both the
RealClearPolitics polling average and
The Huffington Post Pollster average for the New Hampshire Democratic primary showed Sanders leading Clinton by about 3.5 percent on August 28, 2015. On November 20, an online
NBC News poll showed that Sanders's national support continued to grow. A poll that surveyed 5,755 adults nationwide showed Sanders was the preferred candidate of 33% of Democratic and independent voters, still trailing Clinton by 16 points. Sanders continued to show a strong lead among young voters and trailed Clinton by only three points among white voters. According to a national Quinnipiac University poll on December 2, Sanders polled ahead of the top four Republican candidates in a general election matchup. In weeks preceding the Democratic primaries, Sanders was leading in New Hampshire by 50% to Clinton's 46% and behind Clinton in Iowa, 48% to 45%. A Quinnipiac University poll released on January 12, 2016, showed Sanders leading in Iowa by 49 percent to Clinton's 44 percent.
Caucuses and primaries Sanders narrowly lost the
February 1, 2016 Iowa Democratic caucuses by 0.25% of the vote (49.59 to Clinton's 49.84). He won the
New Hampshire Democratic primary on February 9, 2016, by 22.4% of the vote (60.4% to Clinton's 38.0%), receiving strong support from voters who considered it important to nominate a candidate who is "honest and trustworthy". This made him the first self-described
democratic socialist and first non-Christian to win a major party's U.S. presidential primary. In his home state of Vermont, Sanders received 86.1% of the vote, denying Clinton any delegates. He also won "landslide" victories in Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii. On March 8, Sanders pulled off an upset in the Michigan Democratic primary, where polls had favored Clinton by significant margins. Of the 78% of pledged delegates allocated in primaries and caucuses by May 10, 2016, Clinton had won 54% to Sanders's 46%. Of the 715
unpledged delegates or "superdelegates" who voted in the
convention in July, Clinton had received endorsements from 505 (71%), Sanders 41 (6%).
Nevada State Convention At the
Nevada Democratic State Convention in May, Sanders delegates were outraged by changes to and interpretations of rules that resulted in denial of the credentials of almost 60 Sanders backers, with the result that Sanders, instead of edging Clinton out in delegates to the national convention, came in second. Angry Sanders backers shouted down keynote speaker
Barbara Boxer, a Clinton supporter. It was widely reported that some shoving, and throwing of chairs and other objects, ensued before Nevada Democratic Party Chairwoman Roberta Lange ended the convention early, but no actual evidence of chair-throwing ever emerged. After the convention was adjourned, casino security guards and local police were called to remove Sanders supporters who refused to leave the casino ballroom. Lange received death threats to herself and her family online and by telephone after "Sanders supporters posted Lange's home and business addresses, email and cell phone number online." Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said, "We do not condone violence or encourage violence or even threats of violence", and denied that the campaign had a role "in encouraging the activity that the party is complaining about." The Nevada Democratic Party wrote to the
Democratic National Committee accusing Sanders supporters of a "penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior — indeed, actual violence — in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting." Sanders responded, "Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals," but added that his supporters had not been treated with "fairness and respect."
Demonstrations Sanders supporters organized various demonstrations in support of his campaign. They are known to have participated in large numbers in the
Donald Trump Chicago rally protest and the
Democracy Spring protests. On April 3, a large number of Sanders supporters
protested in front of CNN Headquarters in
Los Angeles, demonstrating against the amount of airtime Sanders received in comparison to other candidates.
Advertising The campaign began to buy advertising in November 2015 when it spent $2million (~$ in ) on television ads. In the last two weeks of December and the first week of January, the Sanders campaign spent $4.7million on TV ads, outspending the Clinton campaign. Prior to the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries, the campaign launched the advertisement "
America".
Staff The campaign staff included people with deep political campaign experience and people new to campaign organizing. Campaign manager
Jeff Weaver started in politics on Sanders's 1986 gubernatorial campaign. Claire Sandberg was the Director of Digital Organizing. She worked with senior advisers Becky Bond and
Zack Exley to run distributed operations leveraging volunteers where the campaign did not yet have paid staff. On April 14, 2016, Sanders fired the campaign's national Jewish outreach coordinator,
Simone Zimmerman, after it was discovered that she had used foul language to describe the Prime Minister of Israel and Hillary Clinton on Facebook. The hiring of Zimmerman, who has a history of opposition to Israeli policies in the
West Bank and
Gaza, had been widely criticized by Jewish groups.
Gender discrimination allegations In January 2019,
The New York Times reported that allegations of sexual harassment, demeaning treatment and pay disparities pertaining to women in the campaign were being circulated by email. Sanders attributed any such misdeeds to members of his staff, claiming that he was not only unaware of them but had instituted new protocols for addressing such issues.
Jeff Weaver, Sanders's campaign manager in 2016, acknowledged the existence of problems and expressed a desire to do better in any future campaign. Sanders extended an apology on CNN to "any woman who feels like she was not treated appropriately". Sanders's campaign committee issued a statement thanking the campaign workers for raising the concerns, and pointing at new policies in the 2018 Senate re-election campaign, already implemented prior to the events from 2016 coming to light. Former staffers sought a meeting to address the events, The meeting was facilitated by three female leaders in workplace and employment matters. They stated that it was part of "a process to create practical ways for improving the campaign's culture," and were hoping other campaigns would also take note. Speaking on
Meet the Press on January 24, conservative political commentator
David Brooks commented on earlier interviews of Clinton and Sanders, "If I didn't know anything about the race until I saw these back-to-back interviews today, I would think, wow, Sanders really has honed his message, and he's captured both authenticity and joy, and Hillary Clinton hasn't honed her message." Filling in for Sanders at a campaign event in Iowa,
Cornel West "electrified" the crowd, opening his speech by saying, "What a blessing it is to be here with all of my brothers and sisters of all colors here in central Iowa! Brother Bernie and I come from a great tradition, the tradition of
Martin Luther King Jr. and
Albert Einstein; the tradition of
Helen Keller and
Ella Baker; the tradition of
John Dewey—who is the founder of
pragmatism, but he was a democratic socialist, too. The point is that, you see, democratic socialism is not some kind of alien element. It's organic and indigenous in the history of this nation." After polls showed Clinton leading by a wide margin in the March 8 Michigan primary, Sanders won in what has been called "one of the greatest upsets in modern political history," drawing comment from political pundits. ABC News wrote, "Bernie Sanders' win in Michigan will go down as the stunner of the election cycle to date, handing his campaign a fresh rationale and new evidence of his rival's vulnerabilities at a critical time in the race. Sanders' win will raise new questions about the presumed strength and dominance of Hillary Clinton's campaign. (It will also raise questions about the reliability of state-level polling)." Sanders said of the victory, "what we have done is created the kind of momentum that we need to win." On April 1, 2016, Sanders was interviewed by the
New York Daily News editorial board.
Dylan Byers of CNN politics wrote that the interview "showed him having difficulty clearly answering some questions about both foreign and domestic policy". In response to the criticism from the press, Tad Devine, the senior adviser for the Sanders campaign, told CNN, "I understand when you go to New York you're going to get hit by the tabloids, that's what the primaries are about". The Clinton campaign seized on what they considered a poor performance by Sanders, and sent the interview transcript to millions of its backers in a fundraising email, arguing that Sanders hadn't thought through how he would accomplish his biggest goals. But Peter Eavis of
The New York Times wrote that "Bernie Sanders probably knows more about breaking up banks than his critics give him credit for" and that "taken as a whole, Mr. Sanders's answers seem to make sense." An NBC/
Wall Street Journal poll conducted May 15 through 19 found Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in a "dead heat" within the poll's margin of error. But the same poll found that if Sanders were the Democratic nominee, 53% of voters would support him to 39% for Trump. Clinton and Trump were the least popular likely candidates in the poll's history. Sanders received a 43% positive, 36% negative rating. Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign led to a resurgence of interest in
social democracy and democratic
socialism among millennials. ==Clinton named presumptive nominee==