The other Sanders is running for office

September 22, 2016 3:25 PM

Bernie Sanders has a brother, Larry. Larry emigrated to the UK in the late 1960s. He's a member of the Green Party, and has been selected to challenge the upcoming by-election in Witney. This is the seat vacated by David Cameron, up until a few months ago the Prime Minister of the UK. In February this year, Larry was appointed Health Spokesperson of the Green Party; in May he was elected as a pledged delegate for Bernie Sanders to the 2016 Democratic National Convention at the Democrats Abroad Global Convention in Berlin. Previous confusion on MetaFilter.
posted by Wordshore (14 comments total)

Not that Larry Sanders either.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:33 PM on September 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oh. Larry also stood in the 2015 General Election. He's in this video where he's introduced (yes, that is how we do politics here). In the seat he contested, he came fifth. From 2013, a reflection on the continuing problems of the world.
posted by Wordshore at 3:43 PM on September 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

And in five days from now he's gonna marry?
posted by jonmc at 4:41 PM on September 22, 2016 [4 favorites]

His late night talk show was awesome...
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 4:54 PM on September 22, 2016

So, are there the Blighty equivalent of Bernie Bros, called Larry Lads?
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:19 PM on September 22, 2016 [6 favorites]

That's my home town in which he ran last time.

I was disappointed that Bernie didn't get the nomination just because I had this lovely image of the president of the united states doing some door knocking for the Greens down Larkhill Rd.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 6:28 PM on September 22, 2016 [2 favorites]

Isn't mental illness a big part of his platform?

[spoiler alert] links to an article about an eponymous ex-NBA player.

...and by now we're at 3 different 'others' so that joke has probably run its course. But when else to shine a light on a Sanders with a genuine interest in raising interest in this topic? Especially among a population -- elite athletes -- who are not typically predisposed to bring up matters of mental health. For them, it is warrior mentality or else, all too often. (Said as an ex-high school basketball coach)

I can't imagine being a black man in Wisconsin, standing nearly 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, and working to establish an identity outside of the court. (cf John Henson)

Plus, I want to ensure the ex-NBA Larry Sanders is known for something beyond his (admittedly hilarious) 2013 reaction to the referees after receiving an ejection.
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 6:41 PM on September 22, 2016

Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful post. Did you know there was a tv show about a guy with the same name? Let's talk about that instead.
posted by Bistle at 7:02 PM on September 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

But wow, wouldn't it have been the greatest source of conspiracy theory's evah if the Saunders brothers had been elected to the top office of the respective countries.
posted by sammyo at 7:18 PM on September 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Like the UK and the USA are still respective countries!
posted by srboisvert at 7:55 PM on September 22, 2016

Isn't mental illness a big part of his platform?

Yes, he was a board member at a large mental health provider, but quite a while ago.
posted by ambrosen at 11:31 PM on September 22, 2016

This might explain the Tesla full of 'Bernie' stickers driving around Berlin I spotted recently.
posted by romanb at 3:06 AM on September 23, 2016

I thought Witney and Batley and Spen were happening at the same time?
(In fact, yes according to wikipedia both 20th October.)

I'd dearly love to have some kind of electoral pact to bring together all the other parties to try and get Larry elected in Cameron's old seat, just for a laugh. But of course it's completely impossible, it's a solid blue constituency almost always getting >50% tory.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:28 AM on September 23, 2016

I'd want to see a more comprehensive list than these two before thinking there was something funny about it, largely because the Batley and Spen election became necessary at such a complicated time and in such a complicated way. Also, around October is one of the times of the year they like to have elections anyway (just after the Summer recess), so it's unsurprising that such powers as be would rather wait until the dust settles and they can slot the election into the usual timetable. In fact, Cameron's resignation is the more suspicious thing, because it may be that he waited until he did for exactly the same reason (leaving just enough time to organise the by-election and not more).
posted by Grangousier at 5:00 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]