Bernard Sanders was born on September 8, 1941, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
He was an Independent Senator from Vermont when, in the summer of 2015, he announced his candidacy for the president of the United States running as a Democrat. He called himself a "Democratic socialist" of the Scandinavian model and his campaign slogan was to create a "political revolution".
He was little known outside of the state of Vermont and hardly anyone expected him to perform well. In a surprising turn of events, he exceeded all expectations by winning 23 states and 43% of the vote against the establishment darling and heavy favorite Hillary Clinton. This was due to a rise in populist sentiment among the working class which aligned with his campaign messaging. Even though Bernie called for a "political revolution", shortly after losing, he dropped out of the race and endorsed the establishment-backed Hillary Clinton. Large swaths of his working class supporters joined the "MAGA movement" started by the Republican candidate Donald Trump, which went on to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.