[W]hile Sen. Bernie Sanders has been throwing his support behind candidates in state and federal elections across the country lately, he’s remained silent on one candidate close to home.
The Vermont independent has not endorsed his son, Levi Sanders, who is running for Congress in New Hampshire.
Levi Sanders, the senator’s only biological child, announced his bid for one of New Hampshire’s two seats in the U.S. House in February. He is running for the state’s 1st Congressional District, despite not living there.
His father has been on the campaign trail stumping for candidates around the country, including a recent pre-Super Tuesday trip to California ahead of the state’s midterms.
However, the Boston Globe reports, the elder Sanders has not traveled to New Hampshire since his son launched his campaign more than three months ago.
In a statement, Sanders said his son is running “on the most important issues facing working families,” including several of his own hallmark policies — raising the minimum wage, single payer health care, and free tuition at public colleges and universities.
“Levi has spent his life in service to low income and working families, and I am very proud of all that he has done,” Sanders said.
He went on to explain his silence.
“In our family, however, we do not believe in dynastic politics. Levi is running his own campaign in his own way,” Sanders said.
Sanders’ stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll, ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Burlington earlier this year. Though the senator appeared in photos on her campaign material, he did not endorse any candidate in that race.
Driscoll did receive the support of Our Revolution, a political action organization born from Sanders’ 2016 campaign for president. Levi Sanders is not among the candidates currently backed by Our Revolution.
Levi Sanders’ campaign did not immediate return a request for comment for this article.
