Former campaign manager: Sanders would start 2020 race as ‘one of the front-runners’

Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential campaign manager said he believes a potential 2020 White House bid by the senator would be a much larger effort than the one two years ago.

“This time, he starts off as a front-runner, or one of the front-runners,” Jeff Weaver told The Associated Press in a story published Monday.

“It’ll be a much bigger campaign if he runs again, in terms of the size of the operation,” he added.

{mosads}Weaver noted that Sanders has already established a fundraising network and an army of staff and volunteers.

Sanders has appeared near the top of several polls of potential Democratic candidates for the 2020 campaign. The Vermont senator lost the 2016 Democratic nomination to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

He has been noncommittal about launching a campaign for the 2020 election, though he is thought to be among one of several likely candidates, along with Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Kamala Harris (Calif.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Sanders said last week he will “probably” run if he believes he’s the best candidate to defeat President Trump in the general election.