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Jeremy Corbyn supporters volunteer to help Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign

Both politicians have expressed support for one another and an interest in each other’s campaigns

Alexandra Sims
Tuesday 02 February 2016 12:38 GMT
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Bernie Sanders has laid out a left wing agenda not seen for decades
Bernie Sanders has laid out a left wing agenda not seen for decades (AP)

British Jeremy Corbyn supporters in the US have been volunteering for the Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, as the Senator narrowly lost to rival Hillary Clinton in the "historically close" Iowa caucuses.

UK students and graduates are helping to raise support for Mr Sanders in a number of ways, including door-to-door canvassing and field organising.

Emily Cunningham, a University of Birmingham student currently on a year out in Milwaukee, has volunteered for the Saunders' campaign after previously voting for Mr Corbyn in the 2015 Labour leadership election.

Jeremy Corbyn attends a protest in London (PA)

Along with other student volunteers, Ms Cunningham is helping to make door-to-door pitches to potential Sanders' voters, Buzzfeed News reports.

Simon Bracey-Lane, a recent graduate from Wimbledon, London, told Buzzfeed he was inspired by Mr Corbyn’s Labour leadership victory, but since moving to the US has become “a fully-fledged field organiser” in Mr Saunders’ campaign.

“The momentum, the energy we have here sends shivers down your spine," he said. "It really feels like we’re actually making history – it must be what it feels like to have been on the Kennedy campaign.”

JeremyCorbyn4PM, a group who will be supporting Mr Corbyn in the 2020 general elections, have also expressed their support for Mr Sanders. Writing on Facebook they said: “Amazing scenes from Iowa, where there is a virtual tie between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

“Like our campaign, the political establishment in the States said this was simply unthinkable, impossible, a joke. Like #JezWeCan, the people are proving them wrong.”

Both politicians have previously expressed support for one another and an interest in each other’s campaigns.

Mr Sanders told the Huffington Post in September: "At a time of mass income and wealth inequality throughout the world, I am delighted to see that the British Labour Party has elected Jeremy Corbyn as its new leader.

“We need leadership in every country in the world which tells the billionaire class that they cannot have it all. We need economies that work for working families, not just the people on top."

While Mr Corbyn told the BBC: “I am following Bernie Sanders' campaign with great interest and, indeed, we are exchanging leaflets and badges and things like that. It's great."

Many have noted similarities between Mr Corbyn and Mr Sanders. Both have seen huge support from Millennials - Mr Sanders won 84 per cent of the vote of people aged between 17 and 29 – and both are noted for their anti-establishment and anti-inequality stance.

Larry Sanders, the US Senator’s brother, told the BBC: “There are obvious connections between the Bernie and Jeremy candidacies. They support similar policies; their central theme is the reversal of the redistribution of wealth and income from the majority to the very richest people."

The results of the Democratic Party’s Iowa Caucus have been called a “virtual tie” after Mr Sanders' rival, Hillary Clinton, narrowly won the overall electorate with 49.9 per cent of the vote to Mr Sander’s 49.6 per cent.

The race was so tight several precincts were forced to decide whether Ms Clinton or Mr Sanders got the winning votes by a coin toss.

The Iowa Caucuses are the first of 50 local state contests to decide who becomes the Democratic and Republican nominee for president. The rest will be held over the next few months.

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