Bernard "Bernie" Sanders (born September 8, 1941) is the junior (senate seniority) United States Senator (United States Senate) from Vermont, elected on November 7, 2006. Before becoming Senator, Sanders represented Vermonts at-large district (Vermonts at-large congressional district) in the United States House of Representatives for 16 years. Sanders also served as mayor of Burlington, Vermont from 1981 through 1989.

Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist (democratic socialism), and has praised European social democracy, but because he does not belong to a formal political party, he appears as an independent (independent (politician)) on the ballot. He is the first person elected to the U.S. Senate to identify as a socialist. Sanders caucuses (Congressional caucus) with the Democratic Party (Democratic Party (United States)) and is counted as a Democrat for the purposes of committee assignments. He was also the only independent member of the House during much of his service there. He is one of two independent Senators in the 111th Congress (111th United States Congress), along with Joe Lieberman.