The Left’s Presidential Darkhorse Isn’t A Politician At All

As 84-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) enters the twilight of his political career, Democrats on the Left are searching for a successor to lead the movement he built. Some now believe that person could be an unlikely candidate who has never held elected office.

Politico reported Tuesday that a behind-the-scenes battle is underway over who will inherit Sanders’ political mantle after the Vermont socialist transformed the Democratic Party with his insurgent 2016 presidential campaign and helped propel a new generation of leftist candidates into office.

While names such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have been viewed as possible heirs, some Democratic insiders question whether either has the broad appeal to unite the movement. 

“It’s not certain AOC will even run for president, and right now, just Ro is really out there trying to fill that lane. That leaves a pretty thin field to pull from,” one Democratic operative told Politico.

He rose to national prominence after leading the UAW’s 2023 “stand-up strike” against the Big Three automakers, winning sizable raises while becoming one of organized labor’s most recognizable voices. Fain has also become known for his attacks on the “billionaire class,” often delivering speeches in an “EAT THE RICH” T-shirt, according to Politico.  

Unlike many of the Democratic Party’s rising stars, Fain has never held elected office, a background that some leftists reportedly view as an asset rather than a liability.

In the 2024 election, Democrats continued to win a majority of union households, but President Donald Trump made gains with organized labor. According to AP VoteCast, then-Vice President Kamala Harris won just over half of union household voters, while Trump captured 44% — a two-point increase from his 2020 showing. Four years earlier, Biden carried 56% of union households. 

“If he’s willing to run, [he] might be the best candidate for the left,” Bhaskar Sunkara, a 2020 Sanders surrogate and former vice chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, told Politico’s Playbook. “Since he’s progressive but very much says his egalitarian value system comes from his Christianity, [he] can speak in a moral language that can reach more independents than other candidates, and I think it would set a good precedent for labor.”

Playbook also reported that Fain was recently approached about a potential presidential run and has not ruled it out privately.

“The only presidency I have ever had any interest in is with the UAW to continue to build on the great work we’ve done over the last 3 and a half years,” Fain said in a statement to the outlet. 

Fain has aligned himself with the Democratic Party’s far-Left wing. Fain bucked the establishment and endorsed Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed over moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, citing what he described as her ties to corporate interests.

“I talk all the time about … one of the biggest problems in this country right now … the rich, the corporate class,” Fain told The Lever. “They’ve divided the working class … while we’re busy pointing fingers at each other, they’re taking more and more of the profits we generate.” 

“It’s a scam,” he added.