Sanders: Democratic Party Needs A 50-State Strategy

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, discusses the health and future of the Democratic Party following the gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey.

SANDERS: Well, John, what was to me most exciting was not only the important victories in Virginia and New Jersey for governor, but also, all over this country -- and I think the media hasn't quite picked up on it yet -- you are seeing grassroots activists, people for the very first time, young people, working people, running for state legislature, running for city council, running for school board, and winning those elections.

And what I have always believed is that the only way we're going to transform this country, the only way we're going to take on the top 1 percent effectively is when millions of people get involved in the political process. And that's what we're beginning to see.

So, that excites me very, very much.

I do believe that in many ways the election on Tuesday was a referendum on Trump. And the American people very clearly said, no, we're tired of the divisiveness of Trump. We're tired of his policies designed to give tax breaks to billionaires, to throw 20 million, 30 million people off of health insurance.

That's not what we want from an administration. We want real change in this country. We want a government that represents all of us, not the 1 percent.

DICKERSON: You talk about that energy in the Democratic Party, in the progressive movement, in the liberal movement, whichever -- however you want to define it.

One of the things that I hear from people who are lifelong Democrats is, they hear you giving the Democratic Party advice, and they say, wait a minute, he's not a Democrat. Why is he giving us advice?

It tends to irritate them. What's your response?

SANDERS: Well, it may irritate them, but it does not irritate the American people.

Look, one of the problems facing the Democratic Party is that it has got to open up its doors. The truth is that neither the Democratic Party or the Republican Party today are held in very high esteem by the American people. That's just a fact.

There are more people now who are independents than Democrats or Republicans. So to say to independents, say to young people, who are overwhelmingly independent, say to working people, we don't want to you come into the Democratic Party is totally absurd, and it's a recipe for failure.

Now, in my view, the Democratic Party needs to make fundamental changes. We need to do away with the extraordinary number of superdelegates that now exist in the presidential nominating process. Got to do away with closed primaries. Got to reform the caucus system to allow everybody to vote.

And you need more transparency at the DNC. A lot of money goes through there. People need to know how. We need a 50-state strategy, so that half the states in this country have a Democratic Party, which today does not exist.