Bernie Sanders outlines a more liberal policy agenda than Harris’s. That might help him

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., spent his first term at the National Convention Tuesday night laying out his policy priorities — even ones he knows differ from the Vice President’s campaign platform. of President Kamala Harris.

“We need to join the rest of the developed world and guarantee health care for all people as a human right, not a privilege,” Sanders said, doubling down on his longtime support for the Medicare for All program.

The Independent Senator running for re-election in Vermont was well aware that Harris did not share his position on universal health care.

“We need Medicare for All,” he said in a Monday interview with Politico. “That’s not his opinion, or President Biden’s opinion. And you know, I think I’m right and they’re wrong.”

During his DNC speech, Sanders also insulted the influence of big money in politics, despite all the multi-billion dollar megadonors helping to support the Harris campaign.

“Billionaires in both parties shouldn’t be buying elections — including primary elections,” Sanders said.

Harris has a well-documented Rolodex of multi-billion dollar megadonors helping finance his campaign, as well as millions more in small-dollar donations.

“We have to take on big oil, big ag, big tech and all the other businessmen whose greed is denying progress to working people,” Sanders said.

By making global health care, money in politics and war all important aspects of his DNC speech — and by never extolling Harris’ virtues, Sanders deliberately reject the unspoken rule of presidential rallies: Speakers are expected to sing the praises of the party’s nominee.

And while he delivered an urgent message of support for Harris’ election battle against former President Donald Trump, Sanders’ position differed from that of the vice president.

Sanders’ speech on Tuesday was not the first time he has shown strong support for Harris.

“It’s a great campaign,” Sanders said of Harris in a Monday Politico interview. “We’re not best friends, but I’ve known him for years.”

Sanders said Monday that while he supports Harris, he stands by his belief that President Joe Biden should have won a second term, a sentiment not shared by many of his party’s leaders.

Sanders remained loyal to Biden even after his bitter debate that prompted members of the Democratic Party to express their views on his bid for re-election.

But Sanders’ decision to emphasize the distance between himself and Harris, while unusual, could ultimately be helpful to the vice president, as he works to appeal to moderate, undecided voters.

An August poll from the New York Times and Siena College found that 45% of likely voters felt Harris was too liberal or too progressive in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.

That sentiment stems in part from Trump’s efforts to paint Harris as a progressive, an effort to scare undecided Democratic voters who might lean toward the moderates.

“Comrade Kamala Harris is terrible for our Country. She is a Communist, she has always been a Communist, and she will always be a Communist,” Trump wrote on Sunday’s National News.

But Sanders’ half-hearted enthusiasm for Harris provides a direct counterpoint to those Republican attacks.

A Democratic Socialist representative and one of the most far-reaching lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Sanders is a reminder for focused voters that there are more Democrats than the vice president.

That message may have already started to catch on with the electorate.

Austin Davis, a 29-year-old self-proclaimed communist from Chicago, told NBC News on Tuesday that he does not consider Harris a communist.

“Kamala is not a communist,” he said. “Anyone who can understand even a basic explanation knows that he is not a communist.”