cnn
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Here's a look at the life of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont and former 2020 presidential candidate.
Birthdate: September 8, 1941
Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York
Birth name: Bernardo Sanders
Father: Eli Sanders, paint salesman.
Mother: Dorothy (Glassberg) Sanders
Marriages: Jane (O'Meara) Sanders (1988-present); Deborah (Shiling) Messing (married and divorced in the 1960s)
Children: With Susan Mott: Levi; stepchildren of Jane (O'Meara) Sanders: Heather, Carina, David
Education: Attended Brooklyn College, 1959-1960; University of Chicago, BA in Political Science, 1964
Religion: Jewish, although he told the Washington Post that he “does not actively participate in organized religion.”
Although an independent in the United States Senate, Sanders ran as a Democrat in both of his bids for the presidential nomination, in 2016 and 2020.
His father's family died in the Holocaust.
During the 1960s, he spent half a year on a kibbutz in Israel.
He was a member of the Young People's Socialist League while at the University of Chicago.
The longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history.
Sanders applied for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War.
Nominated for a Grammy Award but did not win.
August 28, 1963 – Attend the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
1972, 1976, 1986 – Failed bids for governor of Vermont.
1972, 1974 – Failed bids for the United States Senate.
1981 – Wins the race for mayor of Burlington, Vermont, by 10 votes, running as an independent.
1981-1989 – Mayor of Burlington for four terms.
1988 – Failed bid for the United States House of Representatives.
1990 – Wins a seat in the United States House of Representatives with approximately 16% of the vote.
1991-2007 – He is serving eight terms in the United States House of Representatives.
1991 – Co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
2006 – Wins a seat in the United States Senate with 65% of the vote.
January 4, 2007-present – He serves in the United States Senate.
December 10, 2010 – He holds a filibuster for more than eight hours against restoring tax cuts formulated during President George W. Bush's administration. The speech was published in book form in 2011 as “The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class.”
2012 – He wins reelection to a second term in the United States Senate. He receives 71% of the votes.
2013-2015 – He serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.
April 30, 2015 – He announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in an email to his supporters and the media.
May 1, 2015 – Sanders campaign raises more than $1.5 million in its first 24 hours.
January 17, 2016 – Sanders unveils his $1.38 trillion-a-year “Medicare for All” health care plan.
February 9, 2016 – Sanders wins the New Hampshire primary and claims victory with 60% of the vote. He is the first Jewish politician to win a presidential nominating contest.
July 12, 2016 – He endorses Hillary Clinton for president.
August 21, 2017 – Sanders writes a commentary piece in Fortune magazine outlining his “Medicare for All” health care proposal.
November 28, 2017 – He is nominated, along with actor Mark Ruffalo, for a Grammy in the Spoken Word category for “Our Revolution: A Future to Believe in.”
February 26, 2018 – Sanders' son, Levi Sanders, announces that he is running for Congress in New Hampshire. He later loses his candidacy in the Democratic primary.
November 6, 2018 – He wins re-election to the United States Senate for a third term with more than 67% of the vote.
January 2, 2019 – The New York Times reports that several women who worked on Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign had reported experiencing sexual harassment, pay disparities and selective disrespect from members of the campaign. Sanders immediately responds to the allegations, stating that he was not aware of any of them and apologizes to “any woman who feels that she was not treated appropriately.”
February 19, 2019 – He announces that he is running for president during an interview with Vermont Public Radio.
February 20, 2019 – According to his campaign, Sanders raises almost $6 million in the first 24 hours after launching his 2020 presidential bid.
March 15, 2019 – The Sanders presidential campaign staff is unionized, making it the first major party presidential campaign to employ a formally organized workforce.
August 22, 2019 – Sanders presents his $16.3 trillion Green New Deal plan.
October 1, 2019 – After experiencing chest discomfort at a campaign rally, Sanders undergoes treatment to address a blocked artery. He has two stents successfully inserted.
October 4, 2019 – Sanders' campaign releases a statement that he has been released from the hospital after being treated for a heart attack. “After two and a half days in the hospital, I feel great and, after taking a short time off, I look forward to returning to work,” Sanders says in the statement.
February 3, 2020 – The Iowa Democratic caucuses are held, but the process is thrown into chaos due to poor planning by the state party, a faulty app that was supposed to calculate the results, and an overwhelmed call center. That uncertainty leads to delayed results and a protracted process in which the campaigns of Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg raise concerns.
February 27, 2020 – Sanders' presidential campaign is challenging the results of the partial recount of the Iowa caucuses just hours after the state Democratic Party released its results. In a complaint sent to the Iowa Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee, the Sanders campaign claims the state party violated its own rules by allowing Buttigieg's campaign to participate in the process because they did not meet proper requirements.
February 29, 2020 – The Iowa Democratic Party certifies the results of the state's caucuses, with Sanders coming in second behind Buttigieg and winning 12 pledged delegates to Buttigieg's 14. The party's State Central Committee certification includes a 26-14 vote, saying the party violated its rules by complying with the Buttigieg campaign's requests for a recount and partial recanvass.
April 8, 2020 – He announces that he is suspending his presidential campaign.
April 13, 2020 – He endorses former Vice President Joe Biden for president.
January 28, 2021 – Sanders raises $1.8 million for charities by selling products inspired by the viral photo of him and his gloves on Inauguration Day.
June 20, 2023 – A Senate investigation begins into working and safety conditions in Amazon warehouses.
April 7, 2024 – Authorities arrest a man in connection with an alleged arson attack at Sanders' Vermont office on April 5, according to the Department of Justice. Several employees were in the senator's office at the time of the fire and it is unknown how many other people were in the building. No injuries were reported, the Justice Department said.
