Feb. 27 (UPI) — Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ son announced Monday that he will run for Congress in New Hampshire.
Levi Sanders, 48, is a legal services analyst who said he will run on many of the same positions his Vermont Senator father advocated for in the 2016 presidential campaign, including a “Medicare for all health system,” tuition-free college and a higher federal minimum wage.
“The majority of voters in New Hampshire, and around this country, agree that we need a Medicare For All healthcare system which guarantees healthcare to every man, women, and child without out of pocket expenses,” Sanders says on his campaign website. “We need an educational system which says that whether you are rich or poor, you have the ability to go to a public college and/or university tuition free. We need to demand that we have a minimum wage which allows people to work forty hours a week without being in poverty.”
He adds: “For over 17 years, I have represented the working class who have been beaten up by the system. It is time to demand that we have a system which represents the 99 percent and not the 1 percent who have never had it so good.”
Sanders will run as a Democrat to replace Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, who is not seeking re-election.
This will be Sanders’ second time time running for political office. In 2010, he ran for a city council seat in his hometown of Claremont, N.H., and lost.
Sanders name recognition is expected to help him in a state his father won in the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton, 60 percent to 38 percent.
“Given how well Bernie did in the New Hampshire primary and how well-known he is here, it will give him some instant visibility and make the race even more interesting,” Dean Spiliotes, a professor at Southern New Hampshire University, told Vice News.
But the Democratic field is expected to be crowded with at least seven other candidates in the running, according to Ballotpedia.
The district is also a target for Republicans in 2018. The National Republican Congressional Committee said it will compete for the seat and two declared GOP candidates — Andy Martin and Eddie Edwards — have already raised more than $350,000 combined.
