page_title: Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign
section_title: Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign / Campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaking at a town meeting at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
context_page_description: The 2016 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders, the junior United States Senator from Vermont, and former Congressman of the same, began with a formal announcement by Sanders on May 26, 2015 in Burlington, Vermont, which followed an informal announcement on April 30.
  Sanders had been considered a potential candidate for President of the United States, both as an Independent and a Democrat since at least November 2013. Although Sanders became an independent after briefly aligning with the left-wing Liberty Union Party in the 1970s, many of his views align with those of the Democratic Party. Sanders caucuses with Democrats in the Senate, and he has confirmed that he is running as a Democrat.
  On July 26, 2016, during the roll-call vote at the convention, Sanders lost the nomination to Clinton.
context_section_description: Sanders states that his campaign will focus on what he considers to be "real family values".  Saying, "The right has claimed the mantle of 'family values' for far too long. When my Republican colleagues use the term they’re usually talking about things like opposition to contraception, denying a woman’s right to choose, opposition to gay rights, and support for abstinence-only education," Sanders advocates what he calls "real family values" which include paid sick time, paid vacations, and access to paid family leave.  Speaking on woman's pro-choice issues, he commented that "[Republicans believe] that [a woman] cannot control her own body.  I disagree.  Let's say it loud and clear:  Women control their own bodies – not the government."
  Sanders has used social media to help his campaign gain momentum. Along with posting content on Twitter and Facebook, he held an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit on May 19, 2015.
  On September 30, the Sanders campaign announced that it had reached 1 million individual donations, becoming the first in 2015 to reach that threshold.
  In November 1, 2015, Sanders released his first campaign ad.
  During a December 27 appearance on Face the Nation, Sanders criticized Donald Trump for stating in the fourth Republican debate that "wages are too high" and promised to win over working-class Trump supporters. The next day Trump tweeted that "wages in are [sic] country are too low."
  Sanders gained ground on Clinton in the spring of 2016.
caption: Sanders campaigning in Phoenix, Arizona, in July 2015
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