Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, is seeking to win a fourth six-year term in the US Senate on Tuesday.
The 83-year-old senator is a self-described democratic socialist who 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 healthcare, education, childcare and workers’ rights.
The longest-serving independent in Congress is being challenged by Republican Gerald Malloy, a US army veteran and businessman. Also on the ballot are independent Steve Berry, as well as minor party candidates Mark Stewart Greenstein, Matt Hill and Justin Schoville.
Mr Sanders says he is running again because the country faces some of its toughest and most serious challenges of the modern era. He described those as threats to its democratic foundations, massive levels of income and wealth inequality, climate change, and challenges to women’s ability to control their own bodies.
“I just did not feel with my seniority and with my experience that I could walk away from Vermont, representing Vermont, at this difficult moment in American history,” he said at a recent WCAX-TV debate.
Mr Malloy, 62, who served 22 years in the army and was a defence contractor for 16 years, said he thought Mr Sanders was going to retire — and thinks he should — after 34 years in Congress. Mr Malloy said Mr Sanders is not delivering results.
“I have 40 years of very relative experience: business, government, military, foreign policy,” Mr Malloy said during the debate.
Mr Malloy said he would seek to enforce immigration laws and secure the border.
Mr Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee, said he is very proud of his record in Congress.
He has been a consistent champion for better healthcare paid for by the government, higher taxes for the wealthy, less military intervention abroad, and major solutions for climate change.
Mr 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.
Mr Sanders has disagreed strongly with Mr Biden on aid for Israel’s yearlong war with Hamas and has sought to block US arm sales to Israel.
Mr 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 re-election this year, before Mr Biden ended his bid in July.
