Thursday on “CNN Newsroom,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) said 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) should either become a member of the Democratic Party or run as an independent.
CNN host Poppy Harlow asked Meek if former Vice President Joe Biden will face the same issue as Sanders, who ran in 2016 as a Democrat and lost in the primary to Hillary Clinton, because he is an old, white male, but Meeks said there is a difference between the two.
“Look, the difference for me is Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat,” Meeks explained. “I don’t understand why Bernie Sanders, who does not want to become a member of the Democratic Party –”
Harlow noted Sanders promised to “reside as a Democrat.”
“Run as a Democrat,” Meeks declared.
He continued, “We’ve asked him on a continuous basis if, in fact, you want to be the Democratic nominee, you should be a Democrat. If you’re not a Democrat, you should not run. He should run as an independent. He’s not a Democrat. So, to me, I wouldn’t allow a Republican to run as a Democrat. … If he wants to be a Democrat, he should register to be in the Democratic Party.”
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