In a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday morning, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) endorsed his colleague Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for President of the United States.
Distinguishing himself from fellow Democrats in the Senate, who have nearly unanimously broken toward former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Merkley dismissed the notion of incremental change, and instead threw his support behind Sanders’ call for upheaval.
“People know that we don’t just need better policies, we need a wholesale rethinking of how our economy and our politics work, and for whom they work,” Merkley wrote. “We need urgency. We need big ideas. We need to rethink the status quo.”
He also pushed back against criticism that his support might be wasted on a candidate with long odds to win the race.
“It has been noted that Bernie has an uphill battle ahead of him to win the Democratic nomination,” Merkley wrote. “But his leadership on these issues and his willingness to fearlessly stand up to the powers that be have galvanized a grass-roots movement.”
Sanders trails Clinton by more than 200 pledged delegates, but has won seven of the last eight contests. The campaign is also drawing massive crowds in rallies across New York heading into the state’s primary next Tuesday, despite polls showing the democratic socialist down double-digits.
Merkley’s home state of Oregon holds its primary May 17, although the Sanders campaign likely doesn’t need much help to win up there. It claimed resounding victories in neighboring states of Washington and Idaho in March.
Of the 44 Democrats in the Senate, 40 support the former Secretary of State. After Merkley’s endorsement Wednesday, three remain undecided, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Last week, Sen. Warren joined Sanders and Merkley to introduce legislation protecting low-income consumers from aggressive retail moneylenders–an issue mentioned by Merkley in his op-ed. “He has been unflinching in taking on predatory lending, as well as the threats to our economy from high-risk strategies at our biggest banks,” Merkley wrote in support of Sanders.
