Veterans for Bernie Sanders
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Veterans for Bernie Sanders (also known as Vets for Bernie) was the national grassroots association of military veterans organized on behalf of Vermont Senator
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
during his
2016 presidential campaign This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kir ...
. Vets for Bernie was independent from the official campaign and largely organized via social media, with more than 50,000 military members and over 100,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
. Founded by veterans of the Iraq war and
Afghanistan war War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...
, Vets for Bernie became a key organizing force for progressives and military voters for the Sanders campaign.


Origins

Vets for Bernie was founded in June 2015 by former
United States Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
Tyson Manker, a veteran of the
2003 Iraq invasion The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "governme ...
, at Sanders' first town hall event at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. After '' The Boston Globe'' indicated wider military support for the Senator, Manker and several other veterans began organizing themselves and working to identify other like-minded members of the United States Armed Forces. Air Force veteran Alexandra Ducatte joined VFB as National co-director, and membership eventually grew across all fifty states, Guam, and Puerto Rico.


Activities


2016 primary

Bernie Sanders served as chair of the
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee The United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs deals with oversight of United States veterans problems and issues. Description The committee was created in 1970 to transfer responsibilities for veterans from the Finance and Labor commit ...
, and was the first 2016 candidate for President to fully embrace the U.S. military with a robust veterans platform. He faced criticisms, however, for not preventing the
Veterans Health Administration Scandal of 2014 The Veterans Health Administration controversy of 2014 is a reported pattern of negligence in the treatment of United States military veterans. Critics charged that patients at the VHA hospitals had not met the target of getting an appointment ...
that occurred during his tenure as committee chair. Through their website, Vets for Bernie highlighted the various awards and honors given to Sanders for his career of veterans advocacy and handling of the 2014 scandal. VFB was credited for developing innovative "social media content based around endorsements from individual veterans." On July 30, 2015, Manker promoted Vets for Bernie and military support for Sanders in a live interview with
John Seigenthaler John Lawrence Seigenthaler ( ; July 27, 1927 – July 11, 2014) was an American journalist, writer, and political figure. He was known as a prominent defender of First Amendment rights. Seigenthaler joined the Nashville newspaper ''The ...
on Al Jazeera America. Vets for Bernie volunteers worked loosely with the Sanders campaign to organize veterans to attend local rallies. Early on, the Sanders campaign staged a military veterans press conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with assistance from Vets for Bernie. VFB participated in Enough is Enough,
Netroots Nation Netroots Nation is a political convention for American progressive political activists. Originally organized by readers and writers of Daily Kos, a liberal political blog, it was previously called YearlyKos and rebranded as Netroots Nation ...
, and
People's Summit The People's Summit was an annual conference in Chicago held by a group of progressive political organizations in the United States. People's Summit 2016 Held in June 2016, the first People's Summit was set against the backdrop of the Bernie San ...
. Along with the larger
People for Bernie The People for Bernie Sanders (also known as People for Bernie) is a grassroots movement that arose to support the candidacy of Bernie Sanders during the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. People for Bernie, independent from the official ...
group, VFB was credited with using effective mobilization techniques. On March 25, 2016, the Sanders campaign held a national conference call on Veterans' Issues with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Manker and VFB Senior Advisor, Colonel Gordon Sumner, U.S. Army, ret. Later, Vets for Bernie organized veterans to take part in a New York City photo session in support of Sanders' candidacy.


Gettysburg rally

On April 22, the Sanders campaign held a military rally for veterans at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with help from Vets for Bernie.


VetsForBernie.org

Through a website (now restored), Vets for Bernie published over one hundred original news-style blog posts, which were shared more than one million times on social media. Most popular posts included: * ''Who Are Bernie Sanders’ Top Contributors? Active Duty Army, Navy, & Air Force, That’s Who'' * ''Bernie Sanders Remains Top Choice of U.S. Troops'' * ''The Lack of Military and Veteran Support for Hillary Clinton Should Concern You'' Individual outreach blogs, including: * ''95 Year-Old WWII Vet Voted for Bernie Sanders Today in Mississippi'' * ''Meet Mark Maxey, the Bearded Man at Bernie’s OKC Rally'' * ''Meet Leslie Lee III – Writer, Teacher, Bernie Sanders Supporter'' * ''Police Chief: Bernie Is the First Candidate to Ever Offer and Pay Police Overtime'' And at least one instance of serious journalism in a blog that analyzed video and photographic evidence to effectively debunk false accusations being leveled at the time that the Sanders campaign shared photographs from the Civil Rights Movement that were not of Sanders, when in fact they were.


Post-election and beyond

Along with other grassroots associations, Vets for Bernie continues to organize military veterans across America. Democratic candidate Tim Canova earned the first official endorsement from VFB in his first unsuccessful bid to unseat Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Vets for Bernie advises progressive candidates for Congress on military issues, most recently in drafting the veterans platform for Stephen Jaffe, candidate for California's 12th Congressional District.


References

{{Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign