RightDataUSA


Bernie Sanders

[Congressional biography]

Born: September 8, 1941 in New York City, NY

Education:

  • Madison High School (Brooklyn, NY)
  • University of Chicago, B.A., 1964

Career:

  • Journalist
  • Faculty member, Harvard University, 1989, Hamilton College, 1990
  • Director, American People's Historical Society, 1977-1981

Elected Office:

  • Mayor of Burlington (VT), 1981-1989
  • Candidate for Democrat presidential nomination, 2016, 2020


Election Results for Bernie Sanders


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1972 30 VT Liberty Union U.S. Senate Class 1 Special 3 1,571 2.2%
1972 30 VT Liberty Union Governor General 3 2,175 1.1%
1974 32 VT Liberty Union U.S. Senate Class 3 General 3 5,901 4.1%
1976 34 VT Liberty Union Governor General 3 11,317 6.1%
1986 44 VT I Governor General 3 28,418 14.5%
1988 46 VT I U.S. House At-Large District General 2 90,026 37.5%
1990 48 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 3 1,991 13.7%
1990 48 VT I U.S. House At-Large District General 1 117,522 56.0%
1992 50 VT I U.S. House At-Large District General 1 162,724 57.8%
1994 52 VT I U.S. House At-Large District General 1 105,502 49.9%
1996 54 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 2 4,037 29.5%
1996 54 VT I U.S. House At-Large District General 1 140,678 55.2%
1998 56 VT I U.S. House At-Large District General 1 136,403 63.4%
2000 58 VT I U.S. House At-Large District General 1 196,118 69.2%
2002 60 VT I U.S. House At-Large District General 1 144,880 64.3%
2004 62 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 2 1,878 11.2%
2004 62 VT I U.S. House At-Large District General 1 205,774 67.5%
2006 64 VT D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 35,954 95.0%
2006 64 VT I U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 171,638 65.4%
2012 70 VT D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 36,902 98.7%
2012 70 VT I U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 209,053 71.0%
2018 76 VT D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 63,683 94.0%
2018 76 VT I U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 183,529 67.3%
2024 82 VT D U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 48,189 98.8%
2024 82 VT I U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 229,429 63.2%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for Bernie Sanders


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
1991 49 House 14 86 84 8 R 22 77 92 95 15
1992 50 House 8 92 86 7 R 11 88 94 95 0
1993 51 House 11 86 88 5 D 67 32 94 95 13
1994 52 House 11 89 92 4 D 73 27 97 100 0
1995 53 House 2 96 95 3 D 87 11 97 100 8
1996 54 House 14 86 93 5 D 75 25 98 100 0
1997 55 House 13 84 92 6 D 73 27 96 100 12
1998 56 House 17 83 94 5 D 83 15 98 100 8
1999 57 House 96 3 D 70 22 96 100 12
2000 58 House 96 3 D 74 26 96 95 4
2001 59 House 97 3 R 16 84 97 100 8
2002 60 House 97 2 R 14 86 94 95 0
2003 61 House 92 5 R 15 84 95 100 16
2004 62 House 96 2 R 27 73 95 100 4
2005 63 House 96 3 R 15 85 97 100 8
2006 64 House 96 2 R 13 87 95 100 8
2007 65 Senate 96 3 R 30 68 99 95 4
2008 66 Senate 98 2 R 33 65 99 100 8
2009 67 Senate 96 3 D 85 14 99 100 12
2010 68 Senate 98 1 D 90 5 98 100 4
2011 69 Senate 93 4 D 82 11 96 84 5
2012 70 Senate 95 3 D 85 11 97 100 8
2013 71 Senate 97 2 D 94 6 99 100 0
2014 72 Senate 81 3 D 89 6 89 100 4
2015 73 Senate 91 3 D 70 15 92 100 9
2016 74 Senate 31 1 D 16 10 29 83 17
2017 75 Senate 96 1 R 14 84 97 100 0
2018 76 Senate 99 0 R 15 84 98 100 9
2019 77 Senate 45 0 R 1 34 37 100 0
2020 78 Senate 56 0 R 10 31 52 100 0
2021 79 Senate 89 1 D 91 7 92 100 3
2022 80 Senate 85 4 D 85 3 89 6
2023 81 Senate 84 3 D 90 8
2024 82 Senate 69 17 D 88
Lifetime conservative rating:   6%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.