Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
- Sen. Bernie Sanders is running for reelection in 2024.
- The 82-year-old is the last senator to announce his reelection plans this year.
- His 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns helped ignite the contemporary progressive movement.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the longest-serving independent in American history, will seek a 4th term in the US Senate later this year.
The 82-year-old Democratic socialist made the announcement in a nearly 9-minute video on X, touting his record while listing off several progressive priorities he hopes to accomplish in the years ahead.
"These are very difficult times for our country and the world," said Sanders. "And, in many ways, this 2024 election is the most consequential election in our lifetimes."
Let me thank the people of Vermont, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me the opportunity to serve them in the United States Senate. It has been the honor of my life.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 6, 2024
Today, I am announcing my intention to seek another term. Here is why: pic.twitter.com/cfO8MF4Cep
Sanders — the second-oldest member of the Senate, behind 90-year-old Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa — had been coy about his plans for months. He is the last US senator whose term ends in 2024 to announce whether or not he would seek reelection.
Sanders is immensely popular in Vermont and is all but guaranteed to be reelected in November. Though he is a registered independent, he is likely to have the support of the state Democratic party as well.
His longshot 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton helped ignite the modern-day progressive movement, paving the way for figures like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the "The Squad" while helping to steer the Democratic Party in a leftward direction.
Sanders ran for president again in 2020, ultimately coming up short to Joe Biden and dropping out of the race weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Long an outside agitator, Sanders has, in recent years, become a kingmaker in progressive politics and an important institutional player in the US Senate. In his announcement video, Sanders said he's "in a strong position to provide the kind of help that Vermonters need in these difficult times."
Since the beginning of Biden's presidency, Sanders has served as the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and later the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
That's allowed him to make his mark on major party-line legislation while pushing for transformative progressive policies, including a 32-hour workweek and a $17 federal minimum wage.
In recent months, Sanders — the Jewish son of a Polish immigrant — has become the Senate's lead critic of Israel's handling of the war in Gaza, where he's pushed to place conditions on US aid to Israel.