CLAIM: Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg are not Democrats.
VERDICT: True
Sanders is an Independent from Vermont who identifies as a socialist and caucuses with Democrats. Bloomberg has switched parties several times. He went from Democrat to Republican to Independent and back to Democrat.
Pete Buttigieg, during the Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday, suggested that his rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, are “polarizing” and not even members of the Democrat party.
“Let’s put forward somebody who is actually a Democrat,” Buttigieg, the former mayor of Sout Bend, Indiana, said, adding:
We have to wake up as a party. We could wake up two weeks from today, the day after Super Tuesday, and the only candidates left standing will be Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg — the two most polarizing figures on this stage and most Americans don’t see where they fit. If they have to choose between a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil and a billionaire who thinks that money ought to be the root of all power.
…
We shouldn’t have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out. We can do better.
Buttigieg’s comments during the debate, hosted by NBC News in Las Vegas, Nevada, seemingly flustered Sanders, an Independent from Vermont who identifies as a socialist and caucuses with Democrats.
Bloomberg has switched parties several times. He went from Democrat to Republican to Independent and back to Democrat. Both Sanders and Bloomberg are polling higher than Buttigieg.