Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent beloved by progressives, won a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.
Sanders, the longest serving independent in Congress, was challenged by Republican Gerald Malloy, a U.S. Army veteran and businessman. Also on the ballot were independent candidate Steve Berry, as well as minor party candidates Mark Stewart Greenstein, Matt Hill and Justin Schoville.
The 83-year-old Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist who caucuses with the Democrats and twice came close to winning the presidential nomination. More recently, he has worked closely with the Biden administration to craft its domestic policy goals on health care, education, child care and workers’ rights.
Malloy, a 62 year old graduate of West Point who has a master’s in business administration, who served 22 years in the Army and was a defense contractor for 16 years, said he thought Sanders was going to retire. Malloy said Sanders is not delivering results.
Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has been a consistent champion for better health care paid for by the government, higher taxes for the wealthy, less military intervention abroad, and major solutions for climate change.
Sanders said this is the country’s most consequential presidential election in modern history. He is a strong critic of former President Donald Trump, and has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Sanders has disagreed strongly with Biden on aid for Israel's yearlong war with Hamas and has sought to block U.S. arm sales to Israel.
Sanders got his political start as mayor of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city, from 1981 to 1989. He was later a congressman for 16 years.
He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He said more than a year ago that he would forgo another presidential bid and endorse Biden’s reelection this year, before Biden ended his bid in July.