State Sen. Vincent Fort ticked off many local Democrats by backing U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary.

Sanders has responded by publicly backing Fort’s candidacy for Atlanta Mayor. Fort is one of several candidates in the race. The election is set for Nov. 7.

In a letter endorsing Fort’s candidacy, Sanders said, “The establishment in Georgia did everything they could to exact revenge on Senator Fort – they even recruited a primary opponent to run against him in the last election cycle as punishment. They failed to take him down then – and now that he’s running to be the next mayor of Atlanta, we expect the entrenched political establishment and their billionaire backers to do everything in their power to defeat him.”

Here is the full letter obtained from Sen. Fort’s Facebook page.

Fort will appear with several other candidates at an upcoming forum hosted by the Buckhead Coalition. The other candidates on the ballot include:

– Peter Aman, Atlanta’s former chief operating officer 

– Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta City Council member

– Kwanza Hall, Atlanta City Council member 

– Ceasar Mitchell, Atlanta City Council president 

– Mary Norwood, Atlanta City Council member

– Michael Sterling, former Executive Director of the Atlanta Workforce Agency 

– Cathy Woolard, former Atlanta City Council member and president