Sanders to host socially distant rally for Biden in New Hampshire

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Bernie Sanders will hold a socially distanced rally for Democratic nominee Joe Biden in New Hampshire on Saturday, the Biden campaign announced.

Sanders will travel to Lebanon, N.H. for a Vote Now socially distant rally at 3 p.m. to promote the former vice president and highlight the ways Granite State residents can submit their vote this election.

Biden, after receiving a negative coronavirus test, visited Grand Rapids, Mich. for campaign events Friday.

The Biden campaign has for the most part eschewed traditional rallies during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Trump campaign has pressed forward with them in nearly every battleground state, in an outdoor setting to skirt virus restrictions.

Meanwhile, Biden distanced himself from Sanders in the presidential debate this week, he beat the self-described democratic socialist by a "whole hell of a lot."

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"The matter of the fact is that I beat Bernie Sanders," he said. "By a whole hell of a lot."

The progressive and populist champion cinched the New Hampshire primary vote in February, after beating out Sen. Hillary Clinton in the state  in 2016. He remains influential among Democrats in the state neighboring his home, Vermont.

New Hampshire is a competitive battleground-- Clinton won the state by little over 250 votes.

The senator reportedly expressed concerns last month that Biden was not doing enough to court progressive voters. He said he wished the former vice president would hone in on issues like health care, higher wages and job growth, sources told The Washington Post.

Though Biden’s policies have undoubtedly swung left as his party continues to become more progressive, he’s reportedly kept a distance between himself and some progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., amid attacks from Trump that Biden is controlled by the “radical left" and socialists.

But Trump charged during Tuesday’s debate that Biden’s lack of support for the Green New Deal and Medicare for All will lose him the left of his party.

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“You just lost the left,” Trump stressed.

Trump accused Biden of backing Medicare-for-all, the universal health care program popularized by Sanders that calls for the elimination of private insurance.

Biden, who has laid out a plan to expand the ACA by adding a public option that's open to all Americans but preserves the option for individuals to keep their private insurance, rejected that statement as false.

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"My party is me," he said. "I am the Democratic Party right now. The platform of the Democratic Party is what I approved of."