A candidate more progressive than most. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party, exemplified by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren during the presidential primaries, has shifted the Overton Window on progressive policies from health care reform to racial, economic, and environmental justice. That’s in part why Joe Biden is running on the most progressive platform of any major-party nominee in recent history.

A man or a movement? When Bernie Sanders ran for president, both in 2016 and 2020, he emphasized that he was helping to build a movement — not just a presidency. That’s why after Sanders dropped out of the race for president, progressives continued to mobilize to ensure that allies won local and federal races. A Biden administration would without a doubt be more responsive to that movement’s demands than Donald Trump has been. Biden has said so himself, and Bernie has said Biden could be “the most progressive president since FDR.”

Joe is working with Bernie on his agenda. He created the Biden-Sanders task force, for example, which produced 110 pages worth of progressive policy solutions for his administration to undertake. Elizabeth Warren has become one of his closest advisers on the economy. Biden has already adopted key proposals of Sanders’ that were considered too extreme in 2016, like raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Trump has made no such commitment.

Trump is the anti-Bernie. Many of Trump’s policies, like his massive tax cuts that disproportionately favor the wealthy, have contributed to a weaker and less stable economy. Biden has promised to raise taxes on corporations and the rich in order to make sure everyone pays their fair share. To turn ideas into action, movements need a political leader who is willing to listen, which Trump has consistently shown he is not.

A step forward. Four more years of President Trump takes progressives miles back on civil rights, immigration reform, climate and the environment, and so much more. As the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett makes clear, health care and women’s reproductive freedom are already at risk under the Trump administration. Imagine what else could be lost over the next four years. Even if Biden isn’t your ideal candidate, a vote for him will protect our democracy and our rights. And progressives can keep organizing to hold Biden’s feet to the fire.