Progressive Leader Bernie Sanders Announces Re-election Bid

(UnitedHeadlines.com) – On May 6, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 82, announced he was running for re-election.

The longest-serving Independent in Congress, who was the 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee runner-up, is seeking a fourth six-year term in the Senate. The former mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served for 16 years before being elected to the Senate in 2006.

In a video announcing his re-election posted to social media, the progressive senator said he could help Vermonters with their “needs in these difficult times” if re-elected to the Senate. He noted that while “we have made important progress,” there is still work he can do for the nation and state, such as the cost and availability of health care, veterans’ health care, climate change, affordable housing, Social Security, and Medicare.

In the announcement, Sanders called the 2024 November election “the most consequential election in our lifetimes,” noting that things are “very difficult times for our country.” He called on voters to ensure the United States remains “a democracy, not an authoritarian society,” adding that the “stakes are enormous.”

Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, is the Senate’s top healthcare committee chairman, a member of the Democrats’ Senate leadership team, and a senior member of the Veterans and Budget committees. He previously served as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Though he is a supporter of President Joe Biden, Sanders has criticized him for his providing aid to Israel in the war with Hamas in Gaza. While he said Israel has “the absolute right to defend itself,’ he has said it “does not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people.”

Sanders, last re-elected in 2018 after receiving 67.4 percent of the vote, is running against Republican Gerald Malloy, who lost the 2022 Vermont Senate race to Democrat Sen. Peter Welch. If Sanders is re-elected, he would be 89 years old when his term ends.