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bernie sanders
'Shaping Up to Be a Clean Sweep': Sanders-Backed Candidates Prevail in Tuesday Primaries
Sanders has said his endorsements are about "building a movement for the future" capable of not just taking on the GOP, but also the Democratic Party establishment.
Jun 03, 2026
Progressive candidates endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders swept to victory on Tuesday in Democratic primaries across the US.
In New Jersey, surgeon Adam Hamawy prevailed in the Democratic primary in the state's 12th Congressional District, while Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-NJ) easily defeated primary challengers in the state's 11th Congressional District by garnering more than 80% of the vote. Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed both candidates.
Sanders-backed candidates in California also put in strong showings, with former San Francisco city supervisor Jane Kim advancing to the general election in the race to be the state's next insurance commissioner.
Political scientist Randy Villegas, meanwhile, is currently edging out rival Jasmeet Bains in the jungle primary in California's 22nd Congressional District, currently represented by Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.).
And in Montana, former smokejumper and union leader Sam Forstag won the Democratic primary to represent the state's 1st Congressional District, where he'll face off against Republican Aaron Flint in the fall.
Sanders adviser Faiz Shakir on Wednesday took a victory lap in the wake of the results.
"Shaping up to be a clean sweep for Bernie’s endorsements last night," Shakir wrote in a social media post.
In an interview with The New York Times last month, Sanders said that his goal with the endorsements is "building a movement for the future" capable of not just taking on President Donald Trump's Republican Party, but also the Democratic Party establishment.
“Our effort is to lead a national movement against Trump’s authoritarianism and kleptocracy and unnecessary wars and his contempt for the Constitution,” Sanders told the Times. “But equally important, the American people need an alternative to the Democratic establishment, which is significantly dominated by big-money interests."
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'Harmful to American Workers': Warren, Sanders Lead Charge Against Trump Crypto Scheme for 401Ks
“This would strip long-held investor protections from retirement savers and encourage the use of more risky, complex, and expensive investments."
Jun 02, 2026
Two progressive US senators are leading the charge against a new Trump administration scheme that would allow Americans' retirement funds to invest in cryptocurrencies.
As reported by The Guardian on Tuesday, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), along with Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), sent a letter to the US Department of Labor (DOL) warning against enacting a proposed rule change that would allow 401(k) investments to include crypto.
Cryptocurrencies have long proven to be volatile assets that have been involved in multiple fraud schemes, which the FBI estimates cost Americans more than $20 billion in 2025 alone.
“This would strip long-held investor protections from retirement savers and encourage the use of more risky, complex, and expensive investments,” states the letter. “The proposed rule is harmful to American workers.”
Offering an example of the dangers of investing in crypto, the letter cites President Donald Trump's personal meme coin, whose value has cratered since its peak in January 2025.
The push to let 401(k)s invest in crypto has also drawn criticism from Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), which on Monday released a white paper outlining how the plan would put Americans' retirement savings at risk while also serving as a boon to the private equity industry.
Oscar Valdés Viera, senior policy analyst for private equity and capital markets at AFR, accused the DOL of handing over US retirement savings to "the worst Wall Street predators and crypto scammers."
"This proposal would use 401(k)s to bail out a struggling industry and advance the administration’s push to embed crypto deeper into the financial system," Valdés Viera explained. "Driving workers into the arms of private equity firms and crypto insiders would let the president’s Wall Street and crypto cronies pocket billions at the expense of families’ retirement security."
Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF) last week noted that Trump and his family, who have major ties to the cryptocurrency industry, would stand to personally profit from the DOL's proposed rule change.
"President Trump stands to benefit if ordinary people can use their employer-sponsored retirement plans to invest in crypto," said Virginia Canter, chief counsel and director of ethics and anti-corruption at DDF. "The administration claims the proposed rule would 'relieve regulatory burdens,' but it looks more like self-dealing."
In addition to allowing 401(k)s to invest in cryptocurrencies, the proposed DOL rule change would also allow them to invest in private credit assets, which are typically loans negotiated with non-bank lenders.
Benjamin Schiffrin, director of securities policy for Better Markets, said on Tuesday that letting 401(k)s invest in these assets would be a similarly risky bet to letting them invest in crypto.
"This is exactly the wrong approach at the wrong time," said Schiffrin. "There could hardly be a proposal more dangerous to Americans’ retirement security. Investors already in private credit are currently running for the exits. DOL’s proposal means that one day millions of Americans with 401(k)s may have to do the same."
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Sanders Sovereign Wealth Fund Plan Would Give US Public 'Direct Ownership Stake' in AI Giants
Sen. Bernie Sanders said his new bill would "guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by AI are used to improve the lives of all of us—not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer."
Jun 01, 2026
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday announced he will soon introduce legislation that would give the American public "a direct ownership stake" in the largest artificial intelligence companies in the US by establishing a sovereign wealth fund, which would ensure everyone benefits from the rapidly advancing technology.
Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote in a New York Times op-ed that his American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would create the new fund by imposing a one-time, 50% tax on the stock of OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI behemoths. The sovereign wealth fund, a government-owned investment vehicle, would both "give the public a direct role in determining the future of this technology" and "guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by AI are used to improve the lives of all of us—not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer."
The senator emphasized that "this is not an original idea," noting that scholars and even leading AI companies have proposed some version of a public wealth fund to broadly distribute AI-related gains. Sanders also observed that Norway and Alaska have sovereign wealth funds, and that "even President [Donald] Trump, in an executive order, has proposed establishing an American sovereign wealth fund."
"I recognize that for the government to have a major stake in a company, particularly one for which AI is only part of its business, is complicated," Sanders wrote. "More details—including the specific spending priorities and the mechanics of implementation—will be included in the legislation I unveil in the coming weeks."
"But the principle is simple: When a public resource generates wealth, the public should share in that wealth. AI is being built on a public resource far more valuable than oil: the accumulated knowledge, creativity, and labor of mankind," he continued. "The future of AI and the fate of humanity must not be decided behind closed doors in Silicon Valley. It must not be dictated by billionaires seeking to maximize their power and profit. It must be decided by workers, parents, teachers, artists, scientists, communities and the American people. It’s our future. We must decide it."
Sanders has been among the most prominent voices expressing grave concerns about the potential for AI to turbocharge inequality and spark catastrophic unemployment. Last year, Sanders' office released a report warning that AI could eliminate nearly 100 million US jobs over the next decade.
"Corporations are already using AI to cut jobs. Amazon, Walmart, UnitedHealth Group, JPMorgan Chase, and other companies are openly telling investors that AI will allow them to slash payrolls—even as they post tens of billions in profits and reward CEOs with pay packages of $25 million, $35 million or more," the report said.
Sanders' call for an AI sovereign wealth fund comes days after a pair of progressive lawmakers—Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas)—separately called for new taxes on AI to fund jobs initiatives, universal healthcare, and other programs to prevent the kinds of large-scale economic displacement that experts and corporate executives say is looming.
“Taxing AI is one way we make sure the winnings from AI benefit all Americans, rather than channeling them only to the wealthy few," Warren wrote in TIME last week. "If millions of people lose their jobs to AI, we’ll need the funds to deliver universal healthcare so those workers are not bankrupted by a visit to the doctor."
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