Sanders Touts Endorsing Jesse Jackson In ’88 Amid Fight Over Civil Rights Cred

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As Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battle over which candidate has the strongest record on civil rights, the Sanders campaign touted his endorsement of Rev. Jesse Jackson for president in 1988, when the self-proclaimed socialist was mayor of Burlington, Vermont.

The campaign blasted out video of a speech Sanders made then, in which he praised Jackson for bringing “together the disenfranchised, the hungry, the poor, the workers who are being thrown out of their decent-paying jobs and the farmers who are being thrown off of their land.”

The campaign release also included a flyer Sanders wrote at the time explaining his support of Jackson.

The focus on civil rights and the candidates’ relationship with minority communities has sharpened as the Democratic primary heads to Nevada and South Carolina, where the electorate is more diverse than in Iowa and New Hampshire. Earlier this week, Clinton received the endorsement of the Congressional Black Caucus’ political action committee (which is separate from the legislative caucus) and civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said of Sanders’ civil rights record, “I never saw him. I never met him.”

Lewis has since walked back those criticisms.

The Nevada Democratic caucus is February 20 and the South Carolina Democratic primary is February 27.

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