Independent Vermont Senator Bernie
Sanders announced Thursday he's running for president.
“After a year of travel, discussion
and dialogue, I have decided to be a candidate for the Democratic
nomination for president,” Sanders said in an email to supporters
and media.
On Wednesday, he told the AP that
people should not “underestimate” him.
“I've run outside of the two-party
system, defeating Democrats and Republicans, taking on big-money
candidates and, you know, I think the message that has resonated in
Vermont is a message that can resonate all over this country.”
Sanders has previously said that his
campaign would focus on trade, income inequality and health care. He
is only the second declared candidate after Hillary Clinton for the
Democrats' presidential nomination.
Earlier this week, Sanders encouraged
the Supreme Court to strike down state bans on gay marriage.
“Of course all citizens deserve equal
rights,” Sanders said. “It's time for the Supreme Court to catch
up to the American people and legalize gay marriage.”
As a House member in 1996, Sanders
voted against passage of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The
Supreme Court in 2013 struck down a key provision of DOMA, which led
to the federal government recognizing the marriages of gay couples.
Clinton endorsed
marriage equality in 2013.