Beyond Attacking Trump, Sanders Says Biden Campaign Must 'Give People a Reason to Vote for Joe'

Bernie Sanders on Sunday refuted the veracity of a weekend Washington Post article that reported the independent Vermont senator has concerns about the way Joe Biden is running his presidential campaign—but that doesn't mean Sanders hasn't been sharing some concerns he has with the way Biden is running his presidential campaign.

Appearing on MSNBC for a Sunday interview with Ali Velshi, Sanders—who lost the party's nomination to Biden after what some critics called a coordinated Democratic effort to thwart the democratic socialist and his progressive agenda—said he believes Biden is in "an excellent position to win this election." 

"But I think we have got to do more as a campaign than just go after Trump," he told Velshi. "Trump is a disaster. I think most people know it. But we also have to give people a reason to vote for Joe Biden."

Sanders added that voters want to hear "a little bit more" from Biden about issues including raising the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour, creating millions of jobs, combating the climate crisis, closing the gender pay gap, and expanding healthcare. 

Sanders' comments came as leading Latinx Democrats and others also expressed concerns about Biden's campaign, warning that the candidate needed to improve his outreach and engagement with the nation's fastest-growing voter group. The "little bit more" theme voiced by Sanders was echoed in comments by former primary rival and current Biden supporter Julián Castro.

Responding to widespread frustration that Biden has not given a major speech on Latinx issues, Castro told the Post on Sunday that "the [Biden] campaign understands that this is a priority, but at the same time there needs to be a little bit more support shown."

"If we allow a narrative to take shape that somehow the issues of concern to this growing community are not prioritized, then we risk backsliding in the years to come," Castro added. 

Filmmaker, activist, and prominent Sanders supporter Michael Moore—who predicted that disaffected white voters would lift Trump to victory in 2016—sounded the alarm on Biden's lack of Latinx outreach in a Friday tweet that showed the president with a four-point lead over Biden among Latinx voters in Florida in a recent NBC News/Marist poll.