Bernie Sanders says he’s ‘very, very unlikely’ to run for president again

‘I think next time around you’re going to see another candidate carrying the progressive banner’

Bernie Sanders has said it is "very, very unlikely" he will run to be US president again.

The Vermont senator stood unsuccessfully to be the Democratic presidential candidate in both the 2016 election and the upcoming 2020 vote.

He was beaten to the Democratic nomination by Hilary Clinton in 2016 and pulled out of November’s race after falling behind Joe Biden in the primaries.

Speaking The Washington Post this week, Mr Sanders said: “I suspended the campaign, but we certainly do not suspend the movement. That grassroots movement must continue, it will continue, and we will transform this country.”

Asked if he will run to be the Democratic candidate in 2024, the progressive said: “I think it’s very, very unlikely that I will be running for president ever again.

“I think next time around you’re going to see another candidate carrying the progressive banner.”

Although Mr Sanders did not specify any names, high profile progressives include New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar.

Asked if he was certain he would not run again, Mr Sanders replied: “Let’s not be a media person worried about what’s going to happen four years from now.”

The next election will be held in November 2024, at which point Mr Sanders will be 83 years old and Ms Ocasio-Cortez will have just turned 35, the youngest age anyone can run for president in the US.

Last month, after dropping out of the race, Mr Sanders endorsed Joe Biden for president.

In the Washington Post interview, the senator said that although they “have very serious disagreements on policy,” he thinks Mr Biden “will be 1,000 times better than Trump on his best day”.

When Mr Sanders endorsed Mr Biden in April, he urged people to vote for the former vice-president to stop president Donald Trump being elected for a second term.

“I am asking all Americans, I’m asking every Democrat, I’m asking every independent, I’m asking a lot of Republicans to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse,” he said in a livestream with Mr Biden.

“We have to make Trump a one-term president and we need you in the White House,” he added.