Please enjoy Bern for another 6 years.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 82, the second-oldest member of the Senate, announced Monday that he will seek a fourth term.
“This is the most important national election of our lifetimes,” Sanders declared in a video statement. “We must fight to remain a democratic society, not an authoritarian one.”
“The stakes are very high,” he added. “This is an election we cannot afford to lose.”
Sanders will have a significant advantage in re-election in deep-blue Vermont, which has not elected a Republican senator since Jim Jeffords in 1988. (Jeffors left the Republican Party in 2001 and joined the Democratic Party.) (He served out the remainder of his term as an independent member.) )
The last full-term Republican senator from the Green Mountain State was Robert Stafford, who served for more than 17 years before retiring after the 1988 election.
The only person older than Sanders, who turns 83 on September 8, is Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who is 90 years old.
Sanders avoided mentioning age in his statement, instead highlighting his record of championing progressive causes in areas such as health care, housing and tax policy, while insisting there is more work to do.
“We must fight to ensure a government that represents our nation’s working families, not billionaires and wealthy campaign allies.”
The self-proclaimed “democratic socialist” is rated as the most liberal member of the Senate. According to GovTrack. Sanders, a two-time presidential candidate, chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and has championed left-wing wish list items such as free college and a four-day work week.
Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2006, succeeding Jeffords, who served in the House of Representatives for 16 years.
Before coming to Washington, Sanders served as mayor of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city, for eight years.
Democrats are defending 23 seats in November’s Senate elections, all three of which are held by independents who caucus. Republicans hold just 11 seats as of November 5th.
