Photos capture how Bernie Sanders went from being a working-class kid in Brooklyn to a top 2020 Democratic presidential candidate

Joseph Zeballos-Roig

Oct 7, 2019, 21:12 IST

Photos capture how Bernie Sanders went from being a working-class kid in Brooklyn to a top 2020 Democratic presidential candidate

Brian Snyder/Reuters

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Dover, New Hampshire, on September 1, 2019.

For nearly four decades, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders waged a lonely war against the people and institutions he views as responsible for rigging the system against the middle class.
Claiming the mantle of democratic socialism, Sanders railed against a consistent set of targets: Wall Street, multinational corporations, and the political elite - and portrayed them as ganging up to rob the American Dream for themselves.
As a small-town mayor in Vermont, a House Representative and later a US senator from the state, he's repeatedly assailed the establishment, and called for sweeping reforms to remake the American economy in a more Scandinavian image.
Long at the fringe of American politics, Sanders's populist message pummeling the wealthy caught fire among progressives during his insurgent Democratic primary run against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
And he is again striking the same chord of anti-establishment fury that's made many of his positions - such as higher taxes on the rich, single-payer healthcare, and a $15 federal minimum wage - the standard for many Democrats in the primary.
Here's how Sanders went from being a working-class kid in Brooklyn to top 2020 Democratic presidential candidate - and the poster-image of democratic socialism.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

For nearly four decades, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders waged a lonely war against the people and institutions he views as responsible for rigging the system against the middle class.

Claiming the mantle of democratic socialism, Sanders railed against a consistent set of targets: Wall Street, multinational corporations, and the political elite - and portrayed them as ganging up to rob the American Dream for themselves.

As a small-town mayor in Vermont, a House Representative and later a US senator from the state, he's repeatedly assailed the establishment, and called for sweeping reforms to remake the American economy in a more Scandinavian image.

Long at the fringe of American politics, Sanders's populist message pummeling the wealthy caught fire among progressives during his insurgent Democratic primary run against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

And he is again striking the same chord of anti-establishment fury that's made many of his positions - such as higher taxes on the rich, single-payer healthcare, and a $15 federal minimum wage - the standard for many Democrats in the primary.

The Vermont senator has long been guarded about his personal life, rather choosing . But he's shared more details about his early life in Brooklyn in an effort to connect with voters amidst a crowded primary where he is not the sole progressive firebrand running for president.

Here's how Sanders went from being a working-class kid in Brooklyn to top 2020 Democratic presidential candidate - and the poster-image of democratic socialism.

Sanders was born on September 8, 1941 in a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn. His father was a Jewish paint salesman who immigrated from Poland while his mother was a homemaker raised in New York.

Sanders grew up in a small, rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn. He played in the streets, attended Hebrew school, and liked to frequent Chinese and Jewish delis.

Sanders said his family struggled to make ends meet throughout his childhood. “It wasn’t a question of putting food on the table. It was a question of arguing about whether you buy this or whether you buy that. You know, families do this. I remember a great argument about drapes—whether we could afford them," he said.

After his mother died, Sanders studied for a year at Brooklyn College and soon wound up at the University of Chicago. He threw himself into protests for the desegregation of Chicago public schools and led a sit-in on campus aimed at integrating university housing. He was once arrested for his activism.

Through the 1970s, Sanders ran four failed campaigns on Vermont's anti-war Liberty Union Party, twice for senator and twice for governor. But in 1980, he won the mayoral race in Burlington, Vermont, as an independent by only ten votes.

Sanders transformed Burlington into a bastion of progressivism and left-wing activism. He oversaw a period of economic growth, and also established an arts council, women's commission, and a youth office.

The Burlington mayor also added a diplomatic layer to his municipal duties. He traveled to Nicaragua, the Soviet Union, and Cuba to forge closer links with leftist governments. And he lambasted then-President Ronald Reagan's anti-communist and interventionist foreign policy.

In the winter of 1987, Sanders recorded "We Shall Overcome," a folk album with a message of peace, justice, and human rights.

A year later, Sanders married Jane O'Meara, who was director of Burlington's youth programs at the time. “He asked me to dance, and we’ve been together ever since,” O'Meara Sanders said. She is now his closest adviser.

Sanders was first elected to the House in 1990 as a socialist candidate. He ran on a platform of slamming more taxes on the rich and slashing military spending, and won by a hefty 17-point margin.

In 1991, Sanders was one of the founding members and the first chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It had six members then, but it's now ballooned to number 96 lawmakers.

However, Sanders initially struggled landing prestigious committee assignments given his non-partisan affiliation as an independent and outspoken progressive ideals.

Sanders didn't make many friends early on in Congress. He once said he wouldn't mind if 80 percent of its members lost their reelection bids and described Congress as "impotent." A Massachusetts Democrat later derided the Vermont congressman, saying, "He screams and hollers, but he is all alone.”

In the House, Sanders developed a reputation for being an outsider, opting to chart his own path rather than compromise. He opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and voted against the Brady Bill five times, a pro-gun control piece of legislation.

Sanders repeatedly grilled Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan at House Financial Services Committee hearings. After the Fed chair said in 2003 that American workers enjoyed the world's highest quality of life, Sanders retorted: "Wrong, mister. You go to Scandinavia, and you will find that people have a much higher standard of living, in terms of education, health care, and decent paying jobs."

Sanders twice pushed to pass legislation to allow the importation of cheaper prescription drugs. It failed both times in the early 2000s. He later said about Congress: "Nobody knows how this place is run. If they did, they'd go nuts."

In 2006, Sanders won his Senate campaign by a whopping 33-point margin and started caucusing with Democrats.

During the financial crisis, Sanders tried blocking the renomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, saying he was "an architect of the Bush economy" that had sunk the nation into a recession.

As the Affordable Care Act was being debated, Sanders viewed it as a "pathetic" alternative to the federally-funded single-payer healthcare system he championed for decades. But Senate Democrats brought him onboard the idea as a step in the right direction.

After President Obama made a deal with Republicans to extend the Bush-era tax cuts in 2010, Sanders ripped into the agreement with an eight-hour filibuster-style speech. The defiant gesture energized progressives and he turned the speech into a book.

Sanders worked with Sen. John McCain on bipartisan legislation in 2014 to reform medical care for veterans. It infused $5 billion in more funding for the Department of Veteran Affairs to hire new medical staff, and made it easier for veterans to seek care outside the system as well as to fire inept VA employees.

Sanders first ran for president in 2015 on a platform of economic populism, seeking to tax the rich, rein in big banks, and champion "Medicare for All." His insurgent campaign against Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton lasted well into 2016, and he won 23 primary races.

After Donald Trump was elected president, Sanders fought to defend Obamacare from being gutted by Republicans. And he continued staging events around the country to spread his progressive message, particularly in rural areas where he believed Democrats failed to make enough inroads in 2016.

Sanders announced his second presidential campaign in February. But his anti-establishment appeal was tested as Sanders entered a crowded Democratic primary where other candidates also embraced a $15 minimum wage, universal healthcare, and tuition-free college. Sen. Elizabeth Warren emerged as one of his main rivals.

Sanders sought early on to quell concerns over past stumbles on racial issues and reports of sexism and other harassment in his 2016 campaign. He became the primary frontrunner, again relying on a similar coalition of young voters and working-class voters that powered his 2016 run with a torrent of online donations.

Sanders traveled to Canada just before the first Democratic debate in June to point out the skyrocketing cost of insulin and other prescription drugs in America and how much lower prices were just over the northern border. Canada's comprehensive universal healthcare system has invited comparisons to Medicare for All in the US.

Healthcare is a key area of debate in the primary. The Sanders Medicare for All plan would insure every American with comprehensive health insurance paid for by the government and essentially get rid of private coverage. Its estimated price tag ranges between $30 trillion and $40 trillion in the first decade of implementation. But Sanders argues any tax increases to pay for it would be offset by cost savings.

At the July Democratic debate, Sanders defended his signature Medicare for All proposal against attacks from moderate candidates who accused him of not knowing whether it would cover every healthcare need. “I do know it,” he said. “I wrote the damn bill!”

Sanders has aligned his presidential campaign with the legacies of Franklin Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. He called for a "21st-century economic Bill of Rights" to address varying aspects of American life in healthcare, the environment, wages, education, affordable housing, and the environment.

In Las Vegas, the 78-year-old Sanders suffered a heart attack in October, heightening scrutiny around age in the Democratic primary. His campaign canceled events for the week and was admitted to a hospital for two days. “See you soon on the campaign trail," he said in a video posted on Twitter.

Next Story Lindsey Graham says Congress will call for Turkey to be suspended from NATO and hit it with sanctions if it attacks Kurds