About Bernie

Bernie Sanders is serving his fourth term in the U.S. Senate after winning re-election in 2024. His previous 16 years in the House of Representatives make him the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history.

Born in 1941 in Brooklyn, Sanders attended James Madison High School, Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago. After graduating in 1964, he moved to Vermont. In 1981, he was elected to the first of four terms as mayor of Burlington. Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York before his 1990 election as Vermont’s at-large member in Congress.

The Almanac of American Politics calls Sanders a “practical and successful legislator.” Throughout his career he has focused on the shrinking American middle class and the growing income and wealth gaps in the United States. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Sanders in 2014 passed legislation reforming the VA health care system. Congressional Quarterly said he was able “to bridge Washington’s toxic partisan divide and cut one of the most significant deals in years.” 

Today, Sanders remains on the veterans committee and serves as the Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee after he was tapped by Senate leadership to be the chairman last Congress. He also serves on the Environment and Public Works Committee, where he has focused on global warming and rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. He is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, where he prioritizes protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and creating a fair tax system. He also sits on the Senate Budget Committee, which he was previously chairman of, and led the committee’s fight against corporate greed.