As Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders takes the stage for Tuesday’s debate in Las Vegas, one of his biggest influences will be watching closely in New York.
The influential individual in question is not the leader of a Super Pac or even a congressional colleague: it is his brother Larry.
Larry Sanders, who lives in Britain, is scheduled to land in New York on Tuesday morning and watch the debate later that evening. On Monday he told the Guardian he would do so nervously, but with hope.
“I am certainly nervous about it,” he said. “It will be a very big event, very important for the campaign. I’ve seen he’s mentioned online that it’s daunting, but he’s been of course in dozens of debates before so he’s not a newcomer.”
Bernie Sanders’s brother is six years older, at 80, and the candidate has named him as a major political influence. Bernie has credited Larry with introducing him, as they grew up in Brooklyn, to ideas and books that formed his political beliefs.
Both hold liberal political ideals: in May, Larry Sanders ran for parliament in Oxford West and Abingdon, as a Green Party candidate. Both identify themselves as socialists who fight for working class families, universal healthcare and environmental protection.
Larry Sanders was not expected to win election, and didn’t. His brother is facing better odds: he leads the presumed Democratic frontrunner, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, in two early primary states, although he trails her among Democratic voters nationally.
“Bernard’s campaign and Bernard’s potential election is really about the most important political event in very, very many years,” said Larry Sanders. “He is really very different from the other candidates.”
Bernie Sanders has been careful to criticize only Clinton’s policies, avoiding negative personal remarks. On Monday, Larry was more critical.
“The great issue of politics,” he said, “is always how the people who run the show – and in this instance it’s people with really large amounts of money – how they manage to get their candidates elected even though it’s against the interests of most of the people that are going to vote for them.
“Bernard is one of those rare candidates who’s slipped through, who isn’t committed to that agenda, and isn’t connected to that very small but very wealthy group of people.
“And Mrs Clinton is connected to them. That’s where she gets her money from.”
Referring to his brother’s liberal bona fides, Larry Sanders said the challenge in the debate would be “whether he can get that across”.
“I think it’ll be a good day, but there you are,” he said.
