Excerpt:

Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign manager is running a new media startup aiming to use ideologically driven storytelling to push the Biden administration to the left, the group tells Axios.


Why it matters: Faiz Shakir's new venture, dubbed More Perfect Union, scored a win last week when White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain shared its video about efforts to unionize an Alabama Amazon warehouse. It was an early sign the administration is attuned to the priorities of its party's left flank.

Klain's tweet came shortly after President Biden backed organizing efforts at the Amazon facility.

What's happening: Shakir told Axios he remains a political adviser to Sanders (I-Vt.).

He formed More Perfect Union and an advocacy arm late last year. The nonprofit groups are independent of Sanders' political operation but share its policy goals and some of its tactics, Shakir said.

"We have a desire for policy change or political change," Shakir said during an interview. "We aren't going to be afraid to say, 'Hey, you know, based off of our reporting, what we've learned on this, a policy solution to address this would be X, Y or Z.'"

A staff of 12 has already produced videos covering issues including student debt, marijuana legalization, technology policy and abortion.

https://www.axios.com/sanders-shakir-biden-media-startup-117c463f-20d9-4554-8916-40095c851de2.html

@ESCochrane

https://twitter.com/AriRabinHavt/status/1367987225196179456

"Bernese Mittens"
(Bernese Mountain Dog)
colored pencil and graphite drawing
by Katherine Plumer, © 2021