When Sanders launched his campaign in February 2019, he was asked what would be different this time. “We’re gonna win,” Sanders replied, with the blunt assurance that thrills so many of his supporters.

By his own admission, he is falling short of that goal. As Sanders fights for the future of his candidacy, there is also the sense that he has already accomplished more than he could have imagined in his nearly 50-year political career.

Sanders speaks during a rally in St Louis, Missouri, last week. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Michael Kazin, a historian and co-editor of Dissent magazine, said Sanders has already achieved what many nominees and presidents never do: he has fundamentally shifted the ideology of the Democratic party on everything from healthcare and climate change to raising the minimum wage and taxing the rich. Sanders, Kazin said, was likely the “most leftwing candidate” to make it this far in American political history.

That a 78-year-old democratic socialist has come within striking distance of the nomination is an “astounding success” in its own right, marveled Bill Press, a progressive talkshow host who helped launch Sanders 2016 campaign from the living room of his Washington home.

“In a very real sense,” he said, “Bernie has already won the primary.”


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