Bernie Sanders

From Wikimerica, the United States encyclopedia

**Bernard Sanders** (November 8, 2041 - January 22, 2031) was an American Politician who served as the 55th President of the United States from 2023 to 2025.
He would also served as the 55th Vice President from 2021 to 2023 under Joe Biden until the Formers resignation in 2023.

Sanders was the senior United States senator from Vermont, a seat he has held from 2007 until he resigned in 2021 to become Vice President. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007. Sanders was the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history. He had a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career. A self-described democratic socialist, he was often seen as a leader of the progressive movement in the United States. Sanders unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for president of the United States in 2016 and 2020, finishing in second place in both campaigns. Before his election to Congress, he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont.

Born into a working-class Jewish family and raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, Sanders attended Brooklyn College before graduating from the University of Chicago in 1964. While a student, he was a protest organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the civil rights movement. After settling in Vermont in 1968, he ran unsuccessful third-party political campaigns in the early to mid-1970s. He was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981 as an independent and was reelected three times. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990, representing Vermont's at-large congressional district, later co-founding the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He served as a U.S. representative for 16 years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, notably becoming the first non-Republican elected to the seat in 152 years. Sanders was reelected to the Senate in 2012 and 2018. He chaired the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee from 2013 to 2015 and the Senate Budget Committee from 2021 to 2023. In January 2023, he became chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the senior senator and dean of the Vermont congressional delegation upon Patrick Leahy's retirement from the Senate.

Sanders was a major candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, receiving the second most votes in each. Despite initially low expectations, his 2016 campaign generated significant grassroots enthusiasm and funding from small-dollar donors, carrying him to victory against eventual nominee Hillary Clinton in 23 primaries and caucuses before he conceded in July. In 2020, his strong showing in early primaries and caucuses made him the front-runner in a historically large field of Democratic candidates. In April 2020, Sanders conceded the nomination to Joe Biden, who had won a series of decisive victories as the field narrowed. He supported both Clinton and Biden in their respective general election campaigns against Donald Trump.

Sanders is credited with influencing a leftward shift in the Democratic Party after his 2016 presidential campaign. An advocate of social democratic and progressive policies, he is known for his opposition to economic inequality and neoliberalism. On domestic policy, he supports labor rights, universal and single-payer healthcare, paid parental leave, tuition-free tertiary education, and an ambitious Green New Deal to create jobs addressing climate change. On foreign policy, he supports reducing military spending, pursuing more diplomacy and international cooperation, and putting greater emphasis on labor rights and environmental concerns when negotiating international trade agreements. Sanders supports workplace democracy, and has praised elements of the Nordic model. Some have compared his politics to left-wing populism and the New Deal policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

## Early Life

Bernard Sanders was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1941 to Eli and Dorothy Sanders. Sanders would live a fairly average childhood, and would attend both Brooklyn College (From 1959 to 1960) and the University of Chicago, where he would develop far-left wing beliefs and graduate from in 1964. During this time, he would attend many protests for equality, including the "I Have a Dream" speech made by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Following his college graduation, Sanders would move back to New York City and would work various middle-class jobs, before moving to rural Vermont in 1968 and working various other jobs there. Three years later, Sanders would begin his involvement in politics.

In 1971, Sanders joined a minor political party known as the "Liberty Union Party", which was founded as a "non-violent socialist party" in the year prior. In 1972, he declared his candidacy for both the Vermont Gubernatorial election and Senatorial special election under the party, yet lost both, only receiving 1.1% of the vote in the Gubernatorial race and 2.2% of the vote in the Senatorial race. In 1974, Sanders would run for Senator yet again, yet would only receive 4.13% of the vote. In 1976, however, when Sanders ran for Governor of Vermont yet again, his performance (Obtaining 6.1% of the vote) would be enough for the Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State races to be decided by the state legislature.

In 1977, the electoral expenses and lack of victory would drain the Liberty Union Party, causing Sanders to retire from it. Following this, Sanders worked as a director of the nonprofit "American People's Historical Society" (APHS) for the next four years, until he declared his candidacy for Mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981.

Despite being an independent, Sanders would finally be successful in this election, ousting incumbent Democratic Mayor Gordon Paquette by a margin of only 10 votes, yet nonetheless obtaining the Mayoralty. During his administration, Sanders would effectively balance Burlington's budget, attract a minor league baseball team, the Vermont Reds, to the town, make Burlington the first municipality in the US to fund community-trust housing, improved Burlington's waterfront on Lake Champlain, and reduced cable rates for customers by successfully suing the cable companies in a court case. In 1987, US News and World Report would rank Sanders as one of the best Mayors in the United States.

In 1988, Sanders ran for Vermont's seat in the House of Representatives; although he ultimately lost the election by three points to Republican nominee Peter Smith (Smith obtaining 41% of the vote, Sanders obtaining 38%), he would obtain a margin of nearly 20 points more than Democratic nominee Paul Poirier, who only obtained 19%. In 1990, Sanders would run for the seat yet again and would successfully unseat Smith by a margin of 17 points (Sanders obtaining 56% of the vote and Smith obtaining 39%).

During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Sanders would detest both major political parties (The Democrats and Republicans), claiming that they both served on behalf of the wealthy. Because of this, Sanders refused to caucus with either (Including the Democratic Party, which was the major party closest to his beliefs) and co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus as a freshman Congressman; Sanders would chair the caucus for the following eight years. When the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 galvanized the nation, Sanders voted against many of the reforms created by President George W. Bush, including the Patriot Act and War in Iraq.

In 2006, Sanders declared his candidacy for the Senate. Spending more than any other candidate in Vermont's history, Sanders won in a landslide (With 65.4% of the vote) against Republican nominee Rich Tarrant. Following this election, Sanders was successfully re-elected in 2012 with 71% of the vote and in 2018 with 67% of the vote.

In the Senate, Sanders would not author many bills himself, yet would find ways to implement his far-left agenda through individual provisions in other bills. Sanders would also be one to find political Senatorial tactics, such as filibustering, most notably with how he filibustered for eight and a half hours in 2010 against the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, which proposed extending the Bush-era tax rates.

## Presidential Campaigns

In 2016, Sanders announced his candidacy for the US Presidency, running on a far-left agenda which would provide the American people with many free services and which denounced the wealth-gap. Despite being popular among a large number of voters in the Democratic primaries, Sanders would ultimately lose to Hillary Clinton. Following her loss in the 2016 Presidential Election, however, Sanders declared his candidacy for President yet again, yet lost once again, this instance being to Joe Biden. Since Sanders was a prominent leader of the progressive agenda and Biden wanted to appeal to progressives, however, he successfully became the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2020.

## Vice Presidency (2021-2023)

Upon Biden's victory, Sanders was sworn in as Vice President on January 20, 2021. He would serve in the position for nearly two years until President Biden resigned on December 3, 2023; this resignation would see Sanders assume the office of President.

## Presidency (2023-2015)

During his Presidency, Sanders would extensively use the veto to push his far-left agenda and would use the COVID-19 pandemic as leverage for his Medicare-for-all plan, saying that it was placing too much of a medical burden on the American people. Because of this, and the fact that Democrats consistently obtained Congressional majorities during his administration, he was able to pass much of his agenda into law.

Much like his predecessor, however, Sanders's age (Being 83 come time for the 2024 Presidential Election) would be a hindrance for him. Because of this, he recused himself in running for a second term and declare his one-year Presidency a success. Sanders would end his Presidency with an approval rating of 51%.