After Sen. Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign for president, a number of progressives took to Twitter to discuss what they hope to see from former vice president and likely nominee Joe Biden. There’s a lot of passion and ideas being shared on social media that are worth a read, but it’s not all Twitter talk; eight progressive advocacy groups have joined together with a letter including policy requests for Biden’s campaign to take a look at. Why? As the letter puts it: “Exclusively anti-Trump messaging won’t be enough to lead any candidate to victory.”
The letter, a joint effort and signed by the Alliance for Youth Action, Justice Democrats, March for Our Lives Action Fund, NextGen America, Student Action, Sunrise Movement, and United We Dream Action argues: “We need you to champion the bold ideas that have galvanized our generation and given us hope in the political process.” What does that look like? The letter breaks down a number of specific policy points; some are considerably far off from Biden’s current campaign messaging, but they’re an honest summary of what many progressives are looking for when the general election rolls around.
On a positive note, the letter calls for Biden to create a Task Force for young voters, which makes sense given that the youth vote is tough to get in general, including when looking at Biden’s current support demographics. The bigger contrasts come in terms of the policy requests. These groups want to see Biden endorse hugely important policy moves, including Medicare for All, higher wealth taxes for the ultra-rich including 180,000 families in the U.S., the Green New Deal, adding seats to the Supreme Court, canceling all student debt, “championing” the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, free tuition for all undergraduate public colleges and universities, and choosing a Homeland Security head who will dismantle ICE. The letter also wants to see action in reducing gun deaths by half in the next decade.
For progressives, those requests aren’t anything new. But unfortunately, Biden simply does not back a number of them. The hope? That he will change and adapt to the wants of voters—and hang close to policies that already line up, like his efforts on gun reform.
“With young people poised to play a critical role deciding the next President,” the letter reads, “you need to have more young people enthusiastically supporting and campaigning with you to defeat Trump. This division must be reconciled so we can unite the party to defeat Trump.”
The letter feels especially timely as it references the novel coronavirus pandemic. “Now,” the letter reads, “the coronavirus pandemic has exposed not only the failure of Trump, but how decades of policymaking has failed to create a robust social safety net for the vast majority of Americans.”
The letter also encourages Biden to appoint elected officials who supported either Sens. Sanders or Warren for a transition committee. They list examples including Reps. Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal, Ayanna Pressley, and Katie Porter. They also call for major voting reform, specifying that “every citizen should be automatically registered to vote, get to cast their ballot in a secure, accessible way that fits their needs, and never have their right to vote taken away for any reason.”
In his live stream, Sanders did not directly endorse Biden, but did speak kindly of him, saying: “Today I congratulate Joe Biden, a very decent man who I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward.”
Biden wrote a statement on Medium aimed at Sanders’ supporters, including: “I see you, I hear you, and I understand the urgency of what it is we have to get done in this country. I hope you will join us. You are more than welcome. You’re needed.”
Near its conclusion, the letter promises that the signed organizations will spend more than $100 million in working with potential voters, including young members and supporters, if Biden is willing to “motivate,” “mobilize,” and “welcome us in.” The lasting, biggest-picture sentiment? “We need a vision for the future, not a return to the past.”