Bernie Sanders

Bernard Sanders (English: Bernard Sanders, September 8, 1941 -), American politician, currently the senior federal senator of Vermont, holding this position since 2007. He is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history, but has maintained close ties to the Democratic Party, caucusing with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career and seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. Ideologically, Sanders is a democratic socialist and is considered one of the key leaders of the modern American progressive movement. Sanders was born into a working-class Jewish family in New York, attended Brooklyn College, and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1964. While in school, he was active in the civil rights movement and was a protest organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). After settling in Vermont in 1968, he participated in political activities as an independent candidate several times in the 1970s, but failed. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Burlington as an independent candidate and served three terms. Sanders was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990, representing a statewide district in Vermont. In 1991, he co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus with five other members of the House of Representatives. Sanders was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 after serving in the House of Representatives for 16 years. Sanders was re-elected in 2012, 2018 and 2024. He served as Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee from 2013 to 2015, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee from 2021 to 2023, and Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee from 2023 to 2025. He is the senior senator and veteran figure in Vermont's congressional delegation. Sanders ran for the Democratic presidential nomination twice, in 2016 and 2020, finishing second both times. His 2016 campaign garnered enthusiasm from grassroots supporters and money from small donors, helping him win 23 primaries and caucuses. In 2020, his strong performance in the early primaries and caucuses made him the front-runner among many Democratic candidates. After the 2020 primaries, he became a close ally of Joe Biden. Sanders has spoken out against the Trump administration since Donald Trump was re-elected as president in 2024, and