Bernie Sanders--So 2016? His Support Does Little for Candidates in 2018
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Yet Mr. D’Alessandro, a longtime Iowa Democratic political operative, appears from public polling set to place third in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. The Sanders seal of approval, for Mr. D’Alessandro and a handful of other Democrats, isn’t turning out to be a winning one in this year’s congressional elections.
“Bernie is Bernie, it’s a one-person movement,” said Sean Bagniewski, the Democratic Party chairman for Polk County, which includes Des Moines.
If the Sanders machine can’t produce votes for a candidate who shares his policy platform, has a full-throated endorsement and remains connected to top volunteers, it raises the question of whether Mr. Sanders can turn out his voters for any candidate here and beyond.
The Sanders endorsement hasn’t spurred other Democrats to victory in contested House primaries.
Last month in Pennsylvania, Mr. Sanders backed Rich Lazer and Greg Edwards, who each finished third in Democratic congressional primaries in the Philadelphia suburbs. Marie Newman lost a hard-fought March primary for a congressional seat in Illinois 12 days after Mr. Sanders endorsed her.
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Even Mr. Sanders’s own family members have been unable to turn their connection to him into electoral success.
Mr. Sanders’s stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll, lost a March contest for mayor of Burlington, Vt., and his son, Levi, has raised just $11,000 in his run for Congress from an open seat in New Hampshire. Mr. Sanders hasn’t endorsed either of them.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/bernie-sanderss-endorsement-appears-to-do-little-to-boost-democratic-candidates-1528120801 (paid subscription)
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