Sanders Says Thousands of Allies Poised to Run for Office

A new generation of Bernie Sanders-inspired political candidates is committing to run for state and local office, the campaign claims, a development some analysts say could shape liberal politics for decades to come – as the senator makes moves to exit the 2016 stage.

While not suspending his presidential campaign yet, the Vermont senator has spent the last two weeks encouraging like-minded Americans to run, be it for school board, city council, state legislature or higher.

A day after he first made that call in a June 16 online address, his campaign said 6,700 supporters expressed interest in running; the number was nearly 11,000 counting those interested in volunteering. A week later at a New York City rally, Sanders said the number of those prepared to run or volunteer had risen to 20,000.

“We are just getting started,” Sanders declared Thursday.

The campaign has not shared the identities of those signing up on the Sanders website, and it’s unclear how many of them truly would make the leap from Sanders supporter to political candidate.

Democratic strategists, though, claim the Sanders “revolution” is far from over, even as Hillary Clinton prepares to claim the nomination at next month’s convention.

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