As a hopeful in a three-way state Senate race who has labeled himself “the Bernie Sanders candidate,” Pittsfield lawyer Rinaldo Del Gallo tried to make it clear this week — following Sanders’ endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — that he still considers himself the Sanders candidate, now supporting Clinton.
“The progressive movement that Bernie Sanders represents is not about one election or one movement,” wrote Del Gallo, who is one of three Democrats competing for the Berkshire-Hampshire-Franklin-Hampden Senate District, in a press statement this week. “Now, all across America, “Berniecrats” are running for office. I represent that revolution at the state level — but it is not just about me, either. It is about us.”
Although Sanders has also thrown his support to Clinton, says Del Gallo, “I will continue to fight the Bernie Sanders Progressive revolution at the state level. The greatest issues of our time are the tremendous wealth inequality in our country, a lack of a living wage, global warming and the degradation of our environment, the extreme cost of higher education, a criminal justice system in great need of reform to end mass incarceration and instead focus on drug and alcohol treatment, and the disappearance of the middle class. Much can be done at the state level to advance these causes.”