(CNSNews.com) – Two weeks out from the Iowa Caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) secured another victory in the battle for endorsements between the two leading liberals in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, winning the backing of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“I’m all in for Bernie Sanders for President!” Jayapal tweeted on Sunday. “Bernie has the bold passion, authenticity & clarity that working people across this country desperately need. We are building the progressive movement that will bring justice & opportunity & transform our country. Join us!”
Responding, Sanders called Jayapal “a brilliant leader for progressive ideas.”
“She’s led the fight against Trump’s racism, sexism and xenophobia. Together, we will defeat Trump and build a working class movement and transform this country so it works for all.”
Jayapal will serve as the national health policy chair for the Sanders campaign, the Washington Post reports. Her endorsement will be officially announced when she joins him at a campaign event in Iowa on Monday.
The move means Sanders now has the support of both of the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ co-chairs – Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) endorsed him just last week – along with its first vice-chair, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and its whip, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)
Sanders earlier also won the high-profile endorsements of two of Omar’s three fellow members of the so-called “squad” of liberal freshmen, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Ocasio-Cortez called the Jayapal endorsement a “[r]really big deal” and Omar tweeted of the announcement, “This is yuge!!!”
The fourth “squad” member, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), threw her support behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) last November.
Warren also has the endorsement of other prominent Congressional Progressive Caucus members, including its chair emeritus, Rep. Raúl Grivalja (D-Ariz.) and vice-chairs Reps. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).
Grivalja’s endorsement of Warren was a blow for Sanders, as Grivalja had been the first member of the House to endorse Sanders when he ran for the Democratic nomination in 2016.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has almost 100 House members, and one member in the U.S. Senate – Sanders.
Sanders won the endorsements of co-chairs Jayapal and Pocan just days after a kerfuffle over claims he had told Warren in a private conversation in 2018 that a woman could not win the presidency in 2020.
Sanders has strongly denied having said that, and the issue prompted a brief, tense exchange between the two liberals after last Tuesday’s CNN/Des Moines Register primary debate.