US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has achieved much in his life, winning 17 of 23 contested elections over his time in politics. Praised in some quarters and fiercely criticized in others, there are intriguing facts about the representative from Vermont who has been politically active for decades.
Bernie Sanders has one biological son Levi Noah Sanders who was born in 1969 in his home of Vermont. Levi’s mother Susan Campbell Mott lived with the politician in the Northeast Kingdom of the state, a few years after he divorced his first wife in 1966 after two years of marriage.
Bernie Sanders would grow up as a passionate fan of the Major League Baseball team the Brooklyn Dodgers. Growing up a boy in Brooklyn during the 1940s and 1950s, he would be heartbroken when the team decided to make the move to Los Angeles on May 28, 1957. He would cite this as an example that helped to inform his politics, deriding the nature of wealthy businessmen trading and moving community assets due to financial gain.
Sports and Bernie Sanders have gone hand-in-hand down the years, being known as a star runner for his Madison track and field team. Endurance was one of his major qualities growing up, but it would not be enough to make the high school basketball team where he was ultimately cut.
Social justice and racial equality have been major movements that Bernie Sanders has supported during his early life. Such is his passion for these causes, he would find himself arrested and put into handcuffs in August of 1963. This would occur during protests on the South Side of Chicago and follow with a fine of $25.
The Vermont Senator has never been afraid of controversy or pushing back against US international interests overseas. He traveled to Nicaragua in 1985 in support of president Daniel Ortega. His socialist regime was fighting rebel contras at the time that were backed by the United States Government.
Following a honeymoon trip to the USSR in 1988, he advocated for Russia to build a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory. This would be a part of the world that Sanders was passionate about, building connections with the sister city of Burlington and praising the country’s low health care costs during the late 1980s.
The Senator would draw further controversy with political backing from the National Rifle Association (NRA) in 1990. The US House set for Vermont was up for grabs during that local election as the New York native opposed mandatory wait periods for handgun sales. This support would diminish over time with Sanders pushing for an assault weapons ban.
Sanders would remain one of the most outstanding critics of the George W. Bush administration. It would be two years after Bush left office in 2010 where an 8-and-a-half hour filibuster took place in an attempt to block the tax cuts extended by the Republican president. That epic filibuster would be the basis for his book The Speech.
Bernie Sanders is an avid author who loves to take his message to a wider audience. His most notable work in this field includes Where We Go from Here, Outsider in the White House, The Speech, Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution and Our Revolution. The latter of which would go on to sell more than 2,000 copies. These book deals would
Bernie Sanders on and off again relationship with the Democratic Party would take different turns in 2006. This is where he would find an agreement across the isle to switch from an independent to a democrat for the Vermont Senate seat. Although he did win that nomination, he would backflip on that call and run as an independent.
