Please give me a chance to explain

When this deadline ends, we are required to report how much money we have raised in small-dollar donations.

Friends -

In just a moment, I am going to ask you to make a contribution to help us continue to play the unique role we are playing in the U.S. Senate — taking on the powerful special interests who have so much power over the economic and political life of this country. But not only that.

We are also leading the fight to protect working families who, during the pandemic, have struggled so hard. In early May, for example, we will be reintroducing our Medicare for All legislation and will be rallying progressives around the country to finally establish that health care is a human right, not a privilege.

Please give me a chance to explain why this request — especially today — is so important.

Here is the truth:

Tonight at midnight, we close the books on an FEC fundraising deadline. You may recall them from our presidential campaigns. And when it ends, we are required to report how much money we have raised in small-dollar donations.

Now, as crazy as it seems to me, people look at the numbers we file as a proxy for the strength of our political revolution. I think that will be especially true now that I am reintroducing Medicare for All.

And it's not just the press who looks. It is also many of my colleagues.

Once upon a time, you may recall, there weren't a lot of United States senators clamoring to sign on as cosponsors of Medicare for All. Most in the political establishment ridiculed the idea as radical, fringe or pie-in-the-sky.

But when we last introduced the bill, it had over a dozen co-sponsors in the Senate, and is now supported by a majority of Democrats in the House.

That's because of you. That's because of our 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. It is because of every petition signature, phone call, text message, social media post and donation you've made to my campaigns.

Not me, us.

That is the political revolution.

So when we file our FEC fundraising report this month, I am hoping we can report A LOT of individual donations. Because each one sends a powerful message that our political revolution remains strong, and remains committed to change.

So please — help me send a message to each one of my colleagues in the Senate, every member of the House and the corporate media that we're ready to fight harder than ever for Medicare for All:

Can you please make a $2.70 contribution to help me continue to organize support for Medicare for All legislation that will guarantee health care as right for every man, woman and child in this country?

Sisters and brothers: In this pivotal moment in American history, let us lead our country forward to guarantee health care as a right and not a privilege. This is a struggle whose time has come. This is a struggle not just about health care but about the heart and soul of our country, about what we stand for as a people. It is a struggle we are winning. And it is a struggle we will win.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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