In 2006 U.S. Rep. Sanders ran for Vermont senator as a Democrat, won the primary, declined the nomination and won the general election as an independent. No Democratic Party senatorial candidate was on the general election ballot. In 2012 Senator Sanders did the same thing. In 2018 Senator Sanders did the same thing but this time there was a Democratic Party senatorial candidate on the general election ballot.

From this it appears that the Vermont Democratic Party is composed of very slow learners or they don’t care about the principles of their candidates. Political parties should vet potential candidates for conformance with the party’s current platform. That especially applies to candidates for POTUS.