Is Jane Sanders the most powerful woman not running in 2020?
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before Bernie Sanders took the stage to formally launch his 2020 presidential campaign this month, the candidate's most influential adviser took the mic. To cheers, Jane Sanders introduced herself to the Brooklyn crowd as "Bernie's wife," then conceded that wasn't the most politically correct label.
To be sure, identifying Jane Sanders as "the wife" hardly captures the scope of her influence on her husband's political career. Across 30 years and a dozen campaigns for federal office, she has served variously as her husband's media consultant, surrogate, fundraiser, chief of staff, campaign spokeswoman and top strategist.
His political revolution has become her career. And her political and business activities have, at times, become his headache. As the Vermont senator undertakes his second presidential run and scrambles his inner circle, Jane Sanders remains his closest adviser, making her perhaps the most influential woman in the 2020 campaign who isn't a candidate.
"Bernie's top adviser always has been and will continue to be Jane," said Jeff Weaver, a Sanders adviser. She has a voice in almost every major political decision her husband makes, travels with him for major events and is deeply involved in formulating policies, issues and campaign infrastructure. "At every level," Weaver said, "Jane is intimately involved."
That involvement has drawn questions sometimes about her political judgment, family opportunism and flawed ethics — from political foes, good government advocates and longtime Sanders-watchers in Vermont and in the progressive movement. Most recently, critics questioned the role played by the Sanders Institute, a nonprofit co-founded by Jane Sanders and her son, for blending elements of fundraising, family and campaign policy development.
Her dual roles at the institute and in...