By Kristen Fountain/VTDigger
Vermont’s senior U.S. senator shared new insight this week into how long he may be willing to represent the Green Mountain State in the nation’s capital.
In an interview published by Politico Tuesday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he was likely to call it quits after his fourth six-year term in the chamber.
Asked by the Beltway-based news outlet whether his next term would be his last, Sanders said, “I’m 83 now. I’ll be 89 when I get out of here. You can do the figuring. I don’t know, but I would assume, probably, yes.”
Sanders, who served as Vermont’s sole representative in the U.S. House for 16 years prior to his election to the Senate in 2006, had been unwilling to speculate about the future during his reelection campaign this year.
Asked a similar question by VTDigger in October, Sanders said, “Let’s worry about this election.” He also emphasized his vigor, telling VTDigger, “I think I have the energy to do the job. If I didn’t, I would not have run for reelection.”
When Republican opponent Gerald Malloy raised the topic of Sanders’ long tenure during an October 23 debate hosted by VTDigger and Vermont Public, Sanders said, “Let’s not be an ageist, Mr. Malloy,” then added, “I am feeling just fine.”
Sanders declined on Wednesday through a spokesperson to elaborate on his comments to Politico and would not agree to an interview.
Sanders is a political independent, self-described democratic socialist and a leader in progressive politics after two runs at the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidency in 2016 and 2020. His national stature earned him the chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee in 2020, when Democrats — with whom he caucuses — took the majority.
In 2023, he became chair of the powerful Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, where he used his bully pulpit to highlight price gouging by pharmaceutical companies and the corporate profits that make the U.S. system of health care among the world’s most expensive. The Republican sweep of Congress and the White House in November will put him in the minority again at the start of his next term in January.
In his October interview with VTDigger, Sanders said age was a factor in politics but not the most important one. “I have significant seniority in the United States Senate,” Sanders said, which he argued “helps me bring a lot of money into the state for various things.”
Long tenures have been a consistent feature of Vermont’s congressional representation in recent years.
Sanders himself took over in 2007 from the late Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., who represented Vermont in the Senate for three terms after spending 14 years as its sole U.S. representative. Former Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., represented the state for almost 50 years before retiring in 2023. His successor was Peter Welch, who had been Vermont’s U.S. representative since Sanders left the position and is next up for reelection in 2028.
Emma Cotton contributed reporting to this story.
