Updated at 5:01 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., isn’t ready to call it quits.
The 82-year-old progressive firebrand announced Monday that he will seek a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate this November. Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, was first elected to the post in 2006 and has served in Congress for more than three decades.
Citing his seniority in the U.S. Senate, the Burlington independent said in a press release and recorded statement on Monday that, if he were reelected, he would continue to be “in a strong position to provide the kind of help that Vermonters need in these difficult times.” Serving in the Senate, he said, “has been the honor of my life.”
In an interview with VTDigger Monday afternoon, Sanders said he chose to run again because, “In my view, this moment in American history is one of the most dangerous that we have seen for a very, very long time.”
The senator listed what he sees as existential threats to the nation, including the possibility that former President Donald Trump — whom he called “one of the most dangerous presidents in American history” — could win reelection.
Sanders said he saw the nation moving toward authoritarianism and oligarchy, “where a small number of billionaires have incredible wealth and power over our economic and political systems, while 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck.” He also pointed to the erosion of abortion rights after the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022, and the slow burn of climate change, which he said “threaten(s) the very wellbeing of our kids and future generations.”
“You add all that stuff up together, and more,” Sanders said. “(This is) an extraordinarily difficult moment in American history, and I just did not feel comfortable about walking away from it when I have some influence in Washington right now representing Vermont.”
Though Sanders had given no public indication that he was considering retirement, his plans have been closely watched in Vermont, which lost considerable seniority in the Senate with the departure two years earlier of veteran Democrat Patrick Leahy. On Monday, Sanders cited that as one of the very reasons he ultimately decided to run again.
“For better or for worse, the Senate relies a lot on seniority,” Sanders told VTDigger, pointing to his high-ranking positions on key committees and the relatively junior status of the state’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Peter Welch, who joined the chamber in 2023. “Sen. Welch has done a great job, but it’s important to have, I think, a senior member in the Senate fighting for Vermont’s needs.”
In his announcement, Sanders’ campaign noted that he is the longest-serving independent in congressional history. He is also one of the oldest members of the Senate and would be 89 years old at the end of a fourth term.
Asked about his decision to run for another six-year term as an octogenarian, Sanders told VTDigger, “All that I can say is, I obviously would not seek reelection if I didn’t consider myself strong enough to do the job well.”
Over the past three years, the senator said, “With the exception of a week when I had Covid and stayed home, I have not missed a day of work — zero days — and that includes working on weekends occasionally.”
He added, “Vermont is entitled to a senator who is fighting for them 24/7, and I believe I am that senator.”
Vermont Republican Party chair Paul Dame told VTDigger that he doesn’t foresee Sanders’ age hindering his reelection campaign.
“Even though we’re in a presidential race where age and competency are an issue, I think Bernie recognizes that he gets a pass on that,” Dame said. “I think people are looking at the individual, not necessarily the age, the numerical value of the age.”
But Dame told VTDigger that he does see a potential vulnerability in Sanders’ leftist politics this November. Pointing to a slew of rejected school budgets in Vermont in recent months, Dame said Vermonters are in search of more fiscal discipline. “And if you’re looking for fiscal discipline, Bernie Sanders is the exact opposite,” he said.
Sanders faces at least one Republican challenger this year in Gerald Malloy, an Army veteran who ran for the Senate seat opened up by Leahy’s departure and filled by Welch. Malloy did not respond to VTDigger’s requests for comment on Monday.
Even as partisan control of the Senate remains in question, Sanders’ seat is not widely seen as vulnerable. He has skated to reelection in recent years.
Sanders has been a presence in Vermont politics since he first ran unsuccessfully for statewide office as a member of the Liberty Union Party in the 1970s. He served as mayor of Burlington, the state’s largest city, from 1981 to 1989 and was elected to the U.S. House in 1990, defeating a Republican incumbent. He moved to the Senate in 2006, following the retirement of Republican-turned-independent Jim Jeffords.
After decades in local, state and congressional politics, Sanders became a household name when he sought the presidency in 2016 and gave former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a run for her money in the Democratic primary. His progressive, populist stances on issues such as income inequality, health care and student loan debt struck a chord with a substantial block of voters. Though he did not secure the presidential nomination in 2016 — nor in 2020, when he again sought the presidency — Sanders cemented his status as a leading voice of the left on Capitol Hill.
In a written statement Monday expressing support for his colleague’s reelection, Welch called Sanders “my friend and collaborator in Congress for 18 years,” saying, “His focus, always, is on Vermont’s working families, first and foremost.”
“The Senate needs Bernie Sanders’ leadership now more than ever,” Welch said.
The third member of Vermont’s congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., echoed the praise.
“He is a proven, battle-tested legislator who has secured the progressive movement a seat at the table here in Washington,” Balint said in a written statement.
Sanders has served in a number of leadership positions in the Senate, first chairing the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, then the Committee on the Budget and, since 2023, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He also serves on the Committee on Environment and Public Works and is a member of the Democratic leadership team.
It is through his position on the HELP Committee, Sanders told VTDigger on Monday, that he sees his greatest shot at delivering for his constituents in Vermont. He pointed, in particular, to Vermonters’ first-in-the-nation rate of utilizing federally funded community health centers for primary health care, mental health care, dental care and prescription drugs.
“I believe, obviously, that health care is a human right, and my long-term goal is to continue to fight for a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program,” Sanders said. “But in Vermont, at the very least, I want to see everybody in the state, regardless of their income, be able to get the primary care they need.”
And there is “no question,” the senator told VTDigger, that among his top priorities is to help deliver federal aid to Vermont so the state can rebuild from last summer’s devastating floods. He said that touring the state last summer to survey flood damage was “one of the more painful experiences that I had.”
Nearly 10 months after the initial floods wreaked havoc on Vermont, Sanders said, “I think we’ve made some progress, but we have a long, long way to go to get FEMA to do its job, to get the SBA to do its job, making sure that funds are available for homeowners, renters, businesses.”
“The other thing — which is really, really tough, but it’s going to be true in Vermont and around the country — is understanding, you cannot rebuild in the same way that existed before the flood. It makes no sense at all,” Sanders added. “So how you do that, how you make buildings more resilient, how you change the locations of where homes and businesses are — that’s an issue that Vermont’s going to have to struggle with, as well as the nation.”
Asked by VTDigger if he felt a moral obligation to run for reelection, Sanders answered, “I would phrase it another way.”
“If you look at the history of the United States, this is a pivotal moment. It really is,” Sanders said. “We’re on the verge of so many crises. I just did not feel comfortable walking away from that when I have some influence in Washington to try to change policy.”
