Senator Bernie Sanders, a former presidential candidate and the leader of the progressive party in the United States for decades, said this may be his last term in an interview with POLITICO.
Sanders (I-Vt.) won re-election in November and has six more years in the Senate ahead of him.
When asked if his fourth Senate term would be his last, Sanders said: “I’m 83 years old. I’ll be 89 when I get out of here. You can make a choice. I don’t know, but I guess, maybe, yes.”
Sanders has been in Congress since 1991. He served eight terms in the House before winning the Senate in 2006, and although he has always expressed his independence from the party, he ran for president of the Democratic Alliance in 2016 and 2020. he was the second-highest ever.
Sanders helped steer the Democratic caucus in the Senate to the left but comes to this point in his political career with concerns about the future of progressive American politics.
After Donald Trump won the presidential election last month, Sanders called out Democrats for abandoning working people.
He repeated that assessment today: “The average American is hurting,” he said. “You must know the truth of what is happening. And I’m not sure enough Democrats are doing that. “
Sanders added that many Americans appreciate what the Biden administration has done to lower drug prices and improve infrastructure. But they continue to criticize what is happening in their party, which they say is not compatible with American workers.
Not everyone in Congress’ Progressive Caucus fully understands the vision needed for the future of the party, according to Sanders.
“Some do and some don’t,” he said.
But Sanders said he is happy that the Progressive Caucus, which Sanders started with five other members in 1991, has grown to more than 100.
“Many of those strong progressives share my views,” he said.
Sanders said President Joe Biden, who emerged from the center of the party to win in 2020, has shown how progressive ideas can be at the center of the Democratic Party, pointing to Biden’s work on drug reduction and child care.
Sanders will lose his seat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in January but said he hopes to return to the position if the Democrats are able to take control of the Senate.
He said his legacy as chairman of the committee includes increasing funding for senior care systems and holding drug company leaders accountable for charging high prices in the US compared to other countries.
“We are the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health to all its people. And we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” he said. “My vision is clear about where we need to go.”