page_title: Bernie Sanders
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: Bernie Sanders / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: English: Bernie Sanders Family
context_page_description: Bernard "Bernie" Sanders is an American politician. He is the Junior United States senator from Vermont. He is an Independent, but often votes with the Democratic Party in the Senate. He became senator on January 3, 2007. He ran for President of the United States twice in 2016 and in 2020.
  Sanders was born in Brooklyn, New York City. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1964. While a student, he was active in organizing protests for civil rights. In 1963, he took part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.
  Sanders was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981. He was re-elected three times. In 1991, he became a United States representative for Vermont's at-large congressional district. He was a congressman for 16 years. In 2006, he was elected to the U.S. Senate after he won 64.5% of the vote. In 2012, he was re-elected by winning almost 71% of the vote. In 2018, he was re-elected by winning nearly 68% of the vote.
  Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist. He thinks that a social democratic government for the United States is a good idea.
context_section_description: Sanders married Deborah Shiling in 1964. The couple divorced two years later in 1966. He met his second wife, Jane O'Meara, when Sanders became mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981. They were married in 1988. Sanders has a son, Levi Sanders, who was born out of wedlock with his domestic partner Susan Campbell Mott. Sanders and Mott were partners only one year before splitting in 1969. Sanders has three step-children from O'Meara: Dave, Carina and Heather Driscoll. He thinks of them as his own children. His brother, Larry, was a Green Party County Councillor representing East Oxford in England until his retirement in 2013.
  Sanders says he is "proud to be Jewish" but is not very religious. He likes Pope Francis. Sanders says he feels "very close to the teachings of Pope Francis,". He calls the pope "incredibly smart and brave".
  In 2016 and 2017, Sanders had earnings of just over $1 million, mostly royalties for his published books. He and his wife own two houses in Capitol Hill and in Burlington, and a lakefront summer home in North Hero.
  Sanders received an Honorary degree from Brooklyn College on May 30, 2017.
  Sanders had a small role in the 1988 movie Sweet Hearts Dance. He played a man who gave candy to kids. In 1999, he had another small role in the low-budget movie My X-Girlfriend's Wedding Reception. He played the role of Rabbi Many Shevitz. On February 6, 2016, Sanders was a guest-star on Saturday Night Live. He played a Polish immigrant on a steamboat that was sinking near the Statue of Liberty.
caption: Sanders with his family in c. 1993
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