US Senator Bernie Sanders has announced he is running for president, launching a second bid for the White House after a surprisingly strong run for the Democratic nomination in 2016.
Sanders, 77, made the announcement in a radio interview in his home state of Vermont on Tuesday.
“I am running for president for two reasons,” said Sanders on Vermont Public Radio.
They are to oppose President Donald Trump and to enact many of the ideas that Sanders championed in 2016, including universal healthcare and $15 minimum wage, he said.
“I think the current occupant of the White House is an embarrassment to our country,” Sanders said. “I think he is a pathological liar… I also think he is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, somebody who is gaining cheap political points by trying to pick on minorities, often undocumented immigrants.”
In an email to supporters shortly after the announcement, Sanders said: “Our campaign is about transforming our country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice”.
Sanders made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2016, losing out to Hillary Clinton, who was in turn defeated by Donald Trump.
Like Trump, Sanders was an outsider when the 2016 presidential primaries began, but came close to pulling off an upset over Clinton.
He garnered passionate support among young liberals with his calls for universal health care and free public university education.
Sanders served in the House until 2006 when he was elected to the US Senate. He was re-elected in 2012 and 2018.
While Sanders remains popular among many Democrats, some in the party have questioned whether their champion this time around should be a septuagenarian white man.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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