Bernie Sanders

Votes Cast

25

Yea Rate

12.0%

Bills Sponsored

10

Missed Votes

0.0%

Bernie Sanders is the senior U.S. Senator from Vermont, an Independent and democratic socialist who chairs or ranks on major committees in the 119th Congress.

Bernard Sanders, Vermont's senior senator since 2007, is a transformative figure who reshaped American political discourse around economic inequality and social policy. Born in Brooklyn to a Polish-Jewish immigrant father, Sanders attended the University of Chicago and settled in Vermont in the 1960s, becoming active in third-party and democratic socialist politics. He was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981, serving four terms, then represented Vermont's at-large U.S. House seat from 1991 to 2007, becoming the longest-serving independent member of Congress before moving to the Senate. Re-elected in 2012, 2018, and 2024, Sanders ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, reshaping debates around Medicare for All, a 15-dollar minimum wage, and wealth taxation. In the 119th Congress, Sanders is the ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee and serves on Budget, Energy and Natural Resources, Finance, and Veterans' Affairs. His legislative agenda remains focused on economic justice, healthcare access, and environmental sustainability.