Bernie Sanders may be focused on the road to June 7. But inside and outside his presidential campaign, some supporters, former aides, and current staffers are already moving on to the next big question: What happens to his “political revolution”?
Over the last month, Sanders backers have started jockeying for a say in, and piece of, the assets, influence, and energy that has driven the Vermont senator’s rise. A former Sanders adviser, Zack Exley, has co-founded an effort aimed at to coordinating a nationwide slate of progressive House and Senate candidates. A volunteer and longtime organizer, Patrick DeTemple, has circulated a draft proposal urging the candidate to drop out after the June 7 contests and transfer his movement to a new entity. And overlapping groups of current and former aides are discussing who will retain Sanders’ massive email list, the campaign’s most precious asset, and for what kind of project.
For all the talk of the future, however, the Sanders legacy remains uncertain, even amid the chaos on display in Nevada last weekend. Those closest to Sanders insist that the senator himself remains focused on the final contests. The question of what’s next, they say, should and will be his alone to answer, how and when he wants to answer it.
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