Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign asked volunteers and supporters to take to social media on Monday and share their personal reasons for supporting the senator’s White House bid—accompanied by the hashtag #MyBernieStory—in an innovative effort to expand Sanders’ grassroots movement.
“The Bernie 2020 campaign is a movement, and we have the largest volunteer base in the race.”
—Claire Sandberg, Sanders 2020 national organizing director
The response was “overwhelming,” Sanders’ national organizing director Claire Sandberg said in a statement on Tuesday.
Just hours after the launch of the #MyBernieStory campaign through the BERN app—an online organizing tool that allows supporters to record a video, share it on social media, and encourage others to participate—the hashtag soared to the top of Twitter’s trending list as Sanders backers flooded the platform with a diverse array of personal stories.
“Our campaign motto is Not Me, Us,” said Sandberg, “and that is directly reflected in this incredible show of support from working people across America. It’s these grassroots volunteers who will ensure Bernie Sanders wins the primary and defeats Donald Trump.”
Amal Altareb, a Yemeni-American and Yale University student whose close family lives in the war-torn nation, said she supports Sanders’ presidential campaign because she believes the Vermont senator would end U.S. complicity in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and bring the years-long war to an end.
“If Bernie is elected,” said Altareb, “my family and the Yemeni people will have hope again that the war can stop.”
Other Sanders backers cited the Vermont senator’s consistent and principled advocacy for Medicare for All, his support for the Green New Deal, his plan to cancel the $1.6 trillion in student loan debt that is crippling millions, his fight for a living wage, and more.
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