Washington DC - Senator Bernie Sanders has once again cast blame on Democrats for Donald Trump's 2024 election win, calling on the party to prioritize a working-class agenda going forward.

"In my view, the Democrats lost this election because they ignored the justified anger of working class America and became the defenders of a rigged economic and political system," Sanders wrote in an op-ed published Sunday by the Boston Globe.

The two-time former Democratic presidential candidate accused the party of failing to address working people's concerns around skyrocketing wealth inequality, food insecurity, and other injustices.

"Donald Trump won this election because he tapped into that anger," explained the Vermont independent, who caucuses with Democrats.

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Trump's response, Sanders said, was to redirect that anger away from the true culprits – corporate elites – toward immigrants, whom the Republican has accused of "invading" the country.

"That explanation is grossly racist, cruel, and fallacious. But it is an explanation," the senator acknowledged.

The remarks reflect a statement Sanders shared on Wednesday after Trump's victory, an outcome he described as "no great surprise" given the Democratic Party had "abandoned working class people."

Sanders stoked controversy back in April 2023 when he immediately endorsed President Joe Biden's reelection campaign. After Biden dropped out of the race this summer, the independent endorsed Harris and encouraged Americans to cast their ballots in her favor – despite initially expressing concerns about her policy priorities.

The 83-year-old senator won reelection Tuesday to another six-year term in Congress' upper chamber, which Republicans will control come January.

Even though they will be in the minority, congressional Democrats have the opportunity to put forward a strong agenda for working people, Sanders urged his colleagues.

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These legislative priorities should include, among others:

• Ending Citizens United to prevent the ultra-wealthy from buying elections
• Raising the federal minimum wage to at least $17 an hour
• Passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act
  
• Increasing Social Security benefits
• Guaranteeing health care as a human right
• Building at least 3 million units of affordable and low-income housing
• Making public colleges and universities tuition free

"If Republicans choose to vote those bills down, the American working class will learn quickly enough as to which party represents them, and which party represents corporate greed," Sanders said.

"The Democratic Party would do well to listen to the clear directive of American voters, and deliver," he added. "The simple fact is: if you stand with working people, they will stand with you."