Bernie Sanders

Described as

United States Senator from Vermont

Other names

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Bernie, Bernard "Bernie" Sanders, Bernard Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Sanders

Born

September 8, 1941 · 5 references

Born in

Brooklyn · 4 references

Name at birth

Bernard Sanders

Citizen of

United States · 1 reference

Occupation

politician · 2 references; journalist · 1 reference; university teacher (–1989) · 1 reference; writer · 1 reference; television producer · 1 reference

Positions held

Mayor of Burlington, Vermont (1981–1989) · 1 reference; United States representative (1991–2007) · 2 references; United States senator (2007–) · 1 reference

Political party

Liberty Union Party (1970–1977); Democratic Party (2 times) (2015–2020) · 1 reference; independent politician (1978–)

Worked for

John F. Kennedy School of Government (1989–1990) · 2 references; Hamilton College (1990) · 2 references

Education

University of Chicago (–1964) · 1 reference; James Madison High School (1954–1958) · 3 references; Brooklyn College (1959–1960)

Member of

Congressional Progressive Caucus · 1 reference

Known for

Outsider in the House; Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In; Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution; Where We Go From Here; The Speech

Awards

Congressional Activism Award (2015); Col. Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award (2014)

Field

politics · 1 reference

Spouse

Jane O'Meara Sanders (1988–) · 1 reference; Deborah Shiling Messing (1964–1966) · 2 references

Children

Carina Driscoll

Father

Elias Sanders · 1 reference

Mother

Dorothy Sanders

Siblings

Larry Sanders

Religion

Judaism · 1 reference

Lived in

1525 East 26th Street · 1 reference

Website

https://www.sanders.senate.gov/; https://berniesanders.com

Wikipedias with a page

141

Wikidata item Q359442 (wikidata.org/wiki/Q359442), public domain (CC0). Copied November 13, 2026.

Bernard Sanders (born September 8, 1941) is an American politician and activist serving as the senior United States senator from Vermont, a seat he has held since 2007. He is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history, but maintains a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career and sought the party's presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. Ideologically a democratic socialist, Sanders is regarded as one of the leading figures of the 21st-century American progressive movement.
Born into a lower-middle-class family and raised in New York City, Sanders attended Brooklyn College before graduating from the University of Chicago in 1964. While a student, he was a protest organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the civil rights movement. After settling in Vermont in 1968, he ran unsuccessful third-party political campaigns in the 1970s. He was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981 as an independent and was reelected three times.
Sanders was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1990, representing Vermont's at-large congressional district. In 1991, he and five other House members co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Sanders was a U.S. representative for 16 years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, becoming the first non-Republican elected to Vermont's Class 1 seat since Solomon Foot, a Whig, in 1850. He was reelected in 2012, 2018, and 2024. Sanders also chaired the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee from 2013 to 2015, the Senate Budget Committee from 2021 to 2023, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee from 2023 to 2025. He is the senior senator and dean of the Vermont congressional delegation.
Sanders was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, finishing second both times. His 2016 campaign generated enthusiasm and funding from small-dollar donors, helping him win 23 primaries and caucuses. In 2020, his strong showing in early primaries and caucuses made him the front-runner in a large field of Democratic candidates. He became a close ally of Joe Biden after the 2020 primaries. Since Donald Trump's non-consecutive reelection as president of the United States in 2024, Sanders has vocally opposed Trump's second administration and what he describes as a right-wing oligarchy, organizing rallies against Trump and his allies, especially Elon Musk, as part of an effort to reshape the Democratic Party.
Sanders is credited with influencing a leftward shift in the Democratic Party after his 2016 campaign. An advocate of progressive policies, he opposes neoliberalism and authoritarianism. He supports workers' self-management, universal and single-payer healthcare, paid parental leave, tuition-free tertiary education, a Green New Deal, and worker control of production through cooperatives, unions, and democratic public enterprises. On foreign policy, he supports reducing military spending, more diplomacy and international cooperation, and greater emphasis on labor rights and environmental concerns in negotiating international trade agreements. Sanders supports workplace democracy and has praised elements of the Nordic model. He is a member of the Fight Club in the Senate.

Born, in its opening lines

September 8, 1941

From the Wikipedia article “Bernie Sanders” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders), by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Copied November 13, 2026; not changed.