C-SPAN interview with Bernie Sanders when he first joined Congress in 1991
Channel: danielhouse
Date: 2015-10-19

In 1981, Bernie Sanders ran for mayor of Burlington and defeated six-term Democratic incumbent Gordon Paquette by 10 votes in a four-way contest. Sanders won three additional terms, defeating both Democratic and Republican candidates in successive elections. In his final run for mayor in 1987, Sanders defeated Paul Lafayette, a Democrat endorsed by both major parties.

During these years, Sanders was a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. In 1985, Burlington City Hall hosted a foreign policy speech by Noam Chomsky. In his introduction, Sanders praised Chomsky as "a very vocal and important voice in the wilderness of intellectual life in America" and said he was "delighted to welcome a person who I think we're all very proud of."

After serving four terms, Sanders chose not to seek reelection in 1989. He briefly taught political science at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government that year and at Hamilton College in 1991.

In 1988, incumbent Republican Congressman Jim Jeffords decided to run for the U.S. Senate, vacating Vermont's at-large congressional district. Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter P. Smith won the House election with a plurality, securing 41% of the vote. Sanders, who ran as an independent, placed second with 38% of the vote, while Democratic State Representative Paul N. Poirier placed third with 19% of the vote. Two years later Sanders ran for the seat again, and defeated the incumbent Smith by a margin of 56% to 40%.

Sanders was the first independent elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 40 years. He won reelection thereafter by high margins, except during the 1994 Republican Revolution, when he won by 3.3% with 49.8% of the vote.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders