Bernie Sanders Endorsements 2016: The Nation Magazine Supports A Presidential Candidate For Third Time Ever

Liberal magazine The Nation has endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential race, Politico reported Thursday. The magazine has endorsed only two other candidates during primaries since it was founded 150 years ago.

While the endorsement was published online early Thursday morning, it is expected to be the cover story in the Feb. 8 edition of the magazine, CNNMoney reported. In an article penned by the editors of The Nation, the magazine argued that Sanders “has summoned the people to a ‘political revolution,’ arguing that the changes our country so desperately needs can only happen when we wrest our democracy from the corrupt grip of Wall Street bankers and billionaires. We believe such a revolution is not only possible but necessary — and that’s why we’re endorsing Bernie Sanders for president.”

The editors did acknowledge that Sanders’ “road to the White House remains steep,” and that he has yet to snag deep support from African-American, Latino and Asian-American voters, who form the core constituencies of the Democratic Party. Still, the editors contended that in Sanders, “Democrats truly have a candidate who can walk the walk.”

“Voters can trust Sanders because he doesn’t owe his political career to the financial overlords of the status quo,” the editors wrote. “Freed from these chains of special interest, he can take the bold measures that the country needs. Sanders alone proposes to break up the too-big-to-fail banks; to invest in public education, from universal pre-K to tuition-free public college; to break the power of the insurance and pharmaceutical cartels with Medicare for All reforms.”

The magazine has endorsed only two other candidates in the Democratic primary: Jesse Jackson in 1988 and Barack Obama in 2008.

Just weeks before the Iowa caucuses, a new poll in the state shows a neck-and neck race between Sanders and rival Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, NBC News reported. A Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll released Thursday revealed Clinton has support of 42 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers and Sanders has 40 percent. The Nation’s endorsement of Sanders did acknowledge that Clinton is a candidate who “combines unmatched experience with intelligence, grit and strength” but still said “the limits of a Clinton presidency are clear.”