Ben & Jerry co-founder throws weight behind Bernie Sanders

SEATTLE, Wash. — Ice cream aficionado Ben Cohen met with local political and labor supporters Thursday, throwing his weight behind Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders – and passing out free scoops of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

"Bernie is the only presidential candidate who is there representing the people instead of the corporations," Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, said Thursday. "This is a guy who deeply believes what he is talking about."

Cohen hopes his appearance at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 19 Hall will boost Sander's campaign ahead of Saturday's Democratic caucuses.

Cohen supports Sanders because of his successful track record in Vermont, he says.

Cohen says he and Jerry Greenfield -- the other co-founder of Ben & Jerry's - grew up in Vermont.

"We've seen Bernie in action for the last 35 years, living in Vermont," Cohen said. "This is the first presidential candidate we've ever campaigned for because this is the first candidate worth voting for."

Both Cohen and Greenfield have donated to the Sanders campaign and endorsed the candidate multiple times.

Earlier this year, they introduced an ice cream flavor inspired by Sanders: "Bernie's Yearning."

"[It] is essentially mint chocolate chip ice cream," Cohen said in an interview with National Public Radio. "However, all the chips have somehow floated to the top."

If that seems like a metaphor – you're right.

"The huge chocolate disk at the top represents all the wealth that's gone to the top 1 percent," Cohen said in his interview with NPR. "And the way you eat it is you take your scoop spoon and you whack it into a bunch of little pieces, and then you mix it around and have a more equitable distribution of wealth."

Cox Media Group