Sanders accuses Biden donors of ‘trying to buy this election’

In a campaign email blast on Friday, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders solicited financial support for his presidential bid by telling potential donors that Democratic front-runner Joe Biden was “trying to buy this election.”

Citing a Thursday article from the New York Times titled “Anxious Biden Allies May Unleash Super PAC,” Sanders, 78, warned his potential supporters that endowment by wealthy donors could unfairly buoy former Vice President Biden, 76, into primary victory.

“It should not be a surprise that wealthy donors of the political establishment are trying to buy this election,” Sanders said in his email. “Now we need to be ready for when they do.”

Sanders, who claimed in April that his average individual donation was just $14, continued to slam high-dollar fundraising as a threat to the political process.

“Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to promote or attack candidates,” his bid for more donations said. “They are a threat to our democracy. And frankly, they are a threat to our campaign and our hopes to transform our country.”

Sanders outraised all other Democratic candidates in the first quarter of 2019 with $18.2 million and an average donation of $34, but he stalled in the second quarter, raising $18 million with the average being only $18. Biden’s average donation in quarter two was $49, and he has added support of large donors since that time.

Appealing to the working class, which has always been Sanders’ primary campaign target, he continued to decry sourcing funds from wealthy donors or groups.

“The antidote to a super PAC is a political revolution funded by working people, chipping in what they can,” he said. “We are the only campaign that is entirely funded by grassroots donations from start to finish. And so now we are asking you to chip in what you can before our FEC fundraising deadline.”

Sanders signed his plea for funds with a request for just $2.70