Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Democrat Amanda Janoo for governor Wednesday, the first time he has backed a candidate for Vermont governor since 2020. He stayed out of the 2022 and 2024 races, when Democrats Brenda Siegel and Esther Charlestin ran against Republican Gov. Phil Scott.
Janoo is the only Vermont candidate on Sanders’ endorsement page. As of Oct. 7, the page lists 21 candidates for Congress and 39 for state legislatures, plus candidates for school boards, county offices and city halls. In the 2024 cycle, NOTUS counted seven congressional endorsements and four for state legislatures. Sanders is endorsing far more candidates than he used to, but he still passes on many, including some he has backed before.
How he decides
Sanders’ campaign has described its standard publicly. Anna Bahr, his communications director, told NOTUS, which has since become The Washington Sun, that Sanders looks for progressive candidates who run strong grassroots campaigns, meaning campaigns built on volunteers and small donors, and who want to challenge the political establishment. She added that “he doesn’t endorse any candidate unless they want his endorsement.”
His website has a form for candidates who want to ask for his endorsement.
Sanders described that standard himself in a Sept. 2 interview with Vermont Public’s Bob Kinzel. Asked whether he would endorse Janoo, he said he hadn’t yet spoken with her, and “if she wants an endorsement, I’m happy to talk to her.” The two met privately later in September.
Janoo told Vermont Public she didn’t directly ask Sanders for his support. She said her supporters had been “gently, I would say, harassing Bernie” about an endorsement.
Sanders has not said publicly why he stayed out in 2022 and 2024. Siegel started in politics as an intern in Sanders’ Washington office, according to her campaign, and she still didn’t get his endorsement.
He has also stayed out of other Vermont races. In 2020, he weighed in on several contested Vermont primaries but not the Democratic race for lieutenant governor, where progressives were split between Tim Ashe and Siegel. His office didn’t answer when VTDigger asked why.
Outside Vermont
The same pattern shows up elsewhere. Sanders backed Nithya Raman’s 2020 run for Los Angeles City Council. He came to Los Angeles this week and endorsed five city candidates, but he hasn’t endorsed anyone in the mayor’s race, either Raman or Mayor Karen Bass, whom she is challenging. Neither Sanders nor Raman has said why.
Sanders can also pull his support. He was one of the earliest backers of Maine U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner. In July, after a sexual assault allegation that Platner denied, Sanders said he had recommended that Platner step aside. His page now lists Troy Jackson for that Senate seat.
What an endorsement brings
The clearest measurable benefit is money. When Sanders endorsed Wisconsin congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke last year, her campaign raised nearly $123,000 online in the following week, up from $54,000 the week before, according to an NBC News analysis. Janoo’s entry on Sanders’ site links straight to her donation page.
Sen. Peter Welch, whom Sanders endorsed in 2021, told NOTUS the endorsement carries real weight. Middlebury College political scientist Matt Dickinson told the same outlet it can also push voters who disagree with Sanders toward the other candidate.
Dickinson told Vermont Public the bigger question over the next four weeks is whether Sanders raises money for Janoo or campaigns alongside her.