In the first sign of what promises to be a hard-fought Democratic presidential primary in 2020, loyal backers of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are waging a public battle against Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, even as neither politician has decided if he will seek the party’s nomination for the White House in the next election, NBC News reported on Monday.
The main criticism being directed by Sanders supporters at O'Rourke, the new darling of Democratic activists, is that he isn't progressive enough, has been too close to both Republicans in Congress and to corporate donors and is not ready enough to use his fame to help fellow Democrats.
Liberal activists had mostly kept quiet about their concerns over O'Rourke while he was running to upset Republican Ted Cruz in November’s election for a Senate seat in Texas, according to 2016 Sanders supporter and progressive activist Nomiki Konst.
But now Democrats have begun to turn their focus on who has the best chance to prevent President Donald Trump from winning a second term.
Norman Solomon, who was a delegate for Sanders at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, explained, "What we’re seeing is someone who’s a big step up for red-state Texas statewide and actually a big step down for where the majority of Democrats are nationwide. ... If we buy the Beto package, we’re gonna have buyer’s remorse later on."
O'Rourke's ability to connect with younger and progressive white voters, which is also Sanders' source of strength, puts him in direct competition with the Vermont senator.
The move to define O’Rourke in negative terms so long before the primary battle is explained by a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, which showed that while the vast majority of Democrats have an opinion about Sanders, 51 percent said they don’t have enough information to form an opinion about O’Rourke.
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