LONDON – After the defeat of Bernie Sanders at the hands of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, his brother wants to prove that the Sanders family can still win. Larry Sanders is currently running for Parliament in Britain after being selected as the candidate for the West Oxfordshire Green Party in September.
Most likely, though, he will lose.
The last time he ran for office, in 2015, only 4.4 percent of all local voters in the constituency of Witney cast their ballots for him. Among the difficulties for Sanders is that he competes in David Cameron’s former constituency with the backing of a relatively small party. Britain’s electoral system favors bigger parties, such as the Conservative or Labour parties.
Cameron resigned as prime minister in June, after the referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union. He had advocated for Britain to stay in the bloc, but the majority of voters chose to leave. Since then, British politics has been in crisis, with the Conservative, Labour and UK Independence parties all plagued by internal fights. For Sanders and the Green Party, Friday’s vote could be the right moment to present themselves as an alternative to the established parties, his supporters say.
Larry Sanders, like Bernie Sanders, was born in Brooklyn. In the late 1960s, he moved to Britain, where he worked as a social worker and academic and subsequently became involved in local politics, later moving on to become the leader of Oxfordshire County Council Green Group.
The two politicians have encouraged and supported each other. In July, Larry Sanders emotionally cast his vote for his brother at the Democratic National Convention.
Speaking about their parents, Larry Sanders said: “They did not have easy lives, and they died young.”
“They loved the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt and would be especially proud that Bernard is renewing that vision. It is with enormous pride that I cast my vote for Bernie Sanders,” he said at the convention.
Likewise, Bernie Sanders has publicly endorsed his brother’s bid for leadership.
In a video published Oct. 11, Bernie Sanders said: “From when I was a very little kid, Larry and I discussed issues of social justice, economic justice and racial justice.
“He wants to see a society in which we do not have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, wants to see a society where health care is a right of people and that means quality health care under the national health system.”
As a health spokesman for the British Green Party, Larry Sanders has strongly objected to the privatization of the National Health Service and condemned the shortage of doctors in the country. Some of the policies that he has advocated for are similar to those that defined his brother’s failed attempt to become the Democratic presidential nominee.
“The policies of the last 30 years, shifting resources and power from the majority to the richest, culminated in the illegality and greed which crashed the economy in 2008,” Larry Sanders said of Britain in a recent statement that reminded readers of some of his brother’s speeches on the U.S. economy.
In an editorial for the Guardian newspaper, Sanders himself emphasized some similarities he sees: “I am so proud that millions of Americans responded to my brother Bernie’s message, which is so similar to mine.”
“I am moved by his support for me, which has resonated with my constituents. Bernie changed American politics. A strong vote for the Green party in west Oxfordshire will likewise begin to change British politics,” he wrote.
But whereas such speeches by Bernie Sanders used to draw the support of millions in the United States, Larry Sanders is fighting on a slightly different level in Britain: Winning a seat in Parliament seems highly unlikely for him. It would even be a surprise if he came in third in his local constituency.
Featured Image: EPA
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Rick Noack
