Bernie Sanders has officially filed papers with the Federal Elections Commission declaring his run for president as a Democrat, but his lack of party credentials may raise questions as he tries to get on the primary ballot in New Hampshire.
In his filing with the Federal Elections Committee Thursday, Sanders listed his party affiliation as “Democratic Party” and his “office sought” as “Presidential.”
The filing is the first time Sanders has officially identified himself as a Democrat, even though he caucuses with the Dems in the Senate.
Still, Sanders is publicly maintaining some distance from the party. Ironically, Sanders got his first taste of victory when he successfully ran against a Democrat to win the Burlington mayoral election in 1981. He has a complicated relationship with the party, as Seven Days reported Thursday.
Even as he launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) insisted he was not a Democrat. "No, I am an independent who is going to be working with the —" Sanders told Seven Days Thursday afternoon, cutting himself off mid-sentence. "I am what I am, and I will have to deal with the state-by-state regulations. But I am what I am."
Sanders decided to run as a Democrat in the presidential race, which will allow him to participate in primary debates and also lowers the chance that he will serve as a spoiler in the general election, taking votes from the Democratic nominee and thus handing the election to Republicans.
But the move comes with some challenges. Sanders will have to get on the Democratic primary ballot in New Hampshire, which requires a candidate tofill out a form that states that the candidate swears “under penalty of perjury” that they meet the qualifications to serve as president and that they are a registered member of the party.
Since Vermont has open primaries and does not require voters to register with a party affiliation, becoming a registered Democrat isn’t as easy as a trip to city hall in Burlington, where Sanders lives. In fact, there’s not really any way a Vermont resident can be a “registered” Democrat or Republican. The FEC filing may be Sanders’ only chance to officially “register” as a Democrat.
“I don’t believe there’s been anybody else in this situation,” New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said in an interview.
Vermont has never required voters to state a party affiliation when they register to vote, but Gardner said that was no problem for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s candidacy in 2004 because he had been on the ballot as a Democrat in Vermont. Sanders doesn’t have that going for him, even though the party has endorsed him in the past. Sanders declined the endorsement when he got it.
So how will Sanders get on the ballot in New Hampshire?
“We accept a declaration of candidacy as a truthful statement,” Gardner said. “If someone fills it out and signs it, we’re assuming that the person’s being truthful. If it comes to our attention that the person might not be and [someone] gives us factual information, then we might address it.”
So if Sanders claims he’s a Democrat when he files to be on the Democratic primary ballot (that filing doesn’t have to happen until late this year), he’ll be on the ballot unless someone proves that he’s ineligible for the presidency or that he’s not a Democrat.
It’s unclear if the fact that he’s serving in the Senate as an independent would be grounds for disqualification, or if this week’s FEC filings will establish his Democratic bona fides.
