Santorum: Dems have a chance in 2020 if they pick someone ‘unexpected’

Former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) on Sunday said he believes the Democratic Party could win in 2020 if they pick someone “unexpected” as their party’s presidential nominee.

Santorum, asked if there were any potential Democratic candidates he was afraid of, pointed to previous presidential contests, saying all of the Democratic candidates who won were “not the favorite” at the time. 

{mosads}”When the Democrats win, they pick someone unexpected or someone who’s not the favorite,” Santorum, a CNN analyst, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“[Former Presidents] Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter,” he listed. “When they pick [failed Democratic presidential nominees] John Kerry or Al Gore or Hillary Clinton, they lose.” 

“And so I’m hoping for Bernie [Sanders] or Elizabeth [Warren] or somebody like that,” he said. “Someone tired, old — [former] Vice President Joe Biden.” 

“Put them out there, we’ll win,” Santorum concluded. “If they pick someone new, then I think they have a chance.”

The Democratic presidential primary is expected to be crowded, with dozens of contenders eyeing a bid. Multiple Democrats who have lost previous presidential runs, including Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have indicated that they will announce in the next few months whether they will run.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on the “State of the Union” panel said that he believes Biden would be a “tough” candidate because of his legacy of centrism.

“The thing I think with the Democratic Party in 2020 is they’re going to end up with a far-left candidate,” Kinzinger said, naming Sanders as someone he considers far-left. Sanders is a self-defined democratic socialist. 

“If it was a centrist party, I think they’d put somebody up like Joe Biden and unlike Sen. Santorum, I actually think Biden would be a really tough candidate,” Kinzinger added.

Biden and Sanders have not yet said whether they are running.