Sen. Bernie Sanders put to rest efforts that were launched last week called “Draft Bernie for a People’s Party,” telling Chuck Todd on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” that his muscle is behind reforming the Democratic Party as it currently exists.
“What we need to do right now is focusing on bringing the American people together around a progressive agenda,” the Independent senator from Vermont told Todd.
“American people want to raise the minimum wage, they want to build our crumbling infrastructure, they want the wealthiest people in this country to start paying their fair share of taxes, they want the United States to join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people as a right.”
Former Sanders delegates and staff members who believe strongly in his vision launched the “Draft Bernie for a People’s Party” movement last week. Their mission was to create a nationwide effort to convince Sanders “to found a new party rooted in the progressive principles that awoke a political revolution during his campaign for the presidency.”
Sanders, however, will not be swayed. He told Todd, “Right now I am working to bring fundamental reform to the Democratic Party, to open the doors to the Democratic Party — working people, lower income people to young people who have not felt welcome in the embrace of the Democratic Party.”
Watch the clip above of Sanders’ interview with “Meet the Press.”