How Old Is Bernie Sanders? His Age, Birthday and Family Explained

The Short Answer

Bernie Sanders is 85 years old. He was born Bernard Sanders on September 8, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family; his father emigrated from Poland. He turned 85 in September. Sanders has served as the senior United States senator from Vermont since 2007, and he is the longest-serving independent in the history of the U.S. Congress, though he caucuses with the Democrats.

His family life is centered on his wife of nearly four decades, Jane O'Meara Sanders, whom he married in 1988. He has one biological son, Levi Sanders (born 1969), from an earlier relationship, and three stepchildren, Heather, Carina and Dave, from Jane's previous marriage. The couple has seven grandchildren. Despite his age, Sanders remains an active campaigner and a central figure in progressive politics, famous for his 2016 and 2020 presidential runs and his signature mittens meme from the 2021 inauguration.

Who Is Bernie Sanders?

Bernie Sanders's political career began in Burlington, Vermont, where he was elected mayor in 1981 by just 10 votes, serving four terms. He then won Vermont's at-large House seat in 1990, serving 16 years before his election to the Senate in 2006. As a democratic socialist, he built a national following with campaigns centered on Medicare for All, free public college tuition, a $15 minimum wage and aggressive climate action.

His 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton electrified young voters and reshaped the Democratic Party's platform, while his 2020 run made him an early frontrunner before he withdrew and endorsed Joe Biden. His 2021 inauguration mittens, handmade by a Vermont teacher, became one of the most memed images in political history and raised millions for charity through merchandise. His books, including Our Revolution, have been bestsellers.

His 2020 presidential campaign made him the early frontrunner, winning the popular vote in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada before the field consolidated around Biden. Though he lost, his platform, Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, the Green New Deal framing, became the Democratic Party's left pole, and many of his proposals entered mainstream legislation.

As chair of the Senate HELP Committee (2023-2025), Sanders used the gavel to haul pharmaceutical and Starbucks executives before Congress, grilling them on drug prices and union-busting in hearings that generated millions of online views. Even without the chairmanship, his committee perch kept him at the center of healthcare and labor fights.

Early Life and Birthday

Bernard Sanders was born on September 8, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Elias Sanders, was a Polish Jewish immigrant who sold paint, and his mother, Dorothy, was a homemaker. He grew up in a rent-controlled apartment in Midwood, Brooklyn, attended James Madison High School, where he was a track star, and studied at Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago, where he became active in the civil rights movement, participating in sit-ins against segregated housing.

After graduating in 1964, he moved to Vermont in 1968, working as a carpenter, filmmaker and writer before entering politics. His September 8 birthday makes him a Virgo, and supporters mark it each year, often with small-dollar fundraising drives that echo the grassroots funding model of his presidential campaigns.

Growing up in a rent-controlled Brooklyn apartment, Sanders was shaped by his family's precarious economics: his father, a paint salesman, never earned much, and dinner-table talk about money's absence became the foundation of a political worldview. He has called those childhood observations the origin of everything he believes.

Wife, Son and Stepchildren

Sanders married Jane O'Meara Sanders in 1988. Jane, a former president of Burlington College, has been his closest political adviser for decades, running his early campaigns and managing his Senate offices. The couple lives in Burlington, Vermont, and also owns a home in Washington, D.C., and a lakefront summer home in Vermont that drew media attention when purchased in 2016.

His son Levi Sanders, born in 1969 during Sanders's relationship with Susan Campbell Mott, has worked as a policy analyst and media consultant and has occasionally been involved in Vermont politics himself. Jane's three children from her previous marriage, Heather, Carina and Dave Driscoll, are Sanders's stepchildren, and together the couple has seven grandchildren, whom Sanders has called his greatest joy. The extended family frequently appears at his rallies and events.

The Sanders family home in Burlington has been their base for decades, and Jane's deep Vermont roots, she was a social worker and college administrator before leading Burlington College, anchor their political identity. Their seven grandchildren are frequent visitors, and Sanders has joked that grandfatherhood is the one job with better approval ratings than the Senate.

Career Highlights

Sanders's legislative achievements include his long chairmanship of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, where he co-authored a major veterans' health bill, and his tenure chairing the Senate Budget Committee and later the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. His amendments, often called the Amendment King era in the House, delivered progressive wins even as a minority-party independent.

His presidential campaigns transformed American politics: the 2016 run proved small-dollar fundraising could compete with super PACs, raising over $230 million mostly in small donations, and moved ideas like Medicare for All and free college from the fringes to the mainstream of Democratic debate. In the Senate he remains a leading voice on income inequality, workers' rights and corporate power, with a social media following in the tens of millions.

Health at 85

Sanders's age and health have been subjects of public discussion, particularly since he suffered a heart attack in October 2019 during his presidential campaign, after which he received two stents. He resumed campaigning within weeks and released medical records showing he was in good health. In 2026 he continues to keep a demanding schedule of Senate duties, rallies and media appearances.

At 85, he is among the oldest sitting senators, and questions about his future plans surface regularly. He has not announced retirement plans and won reelection to another six-year term in 2024. His energy on the campaign trail, famously undiminished, remains a signature trait, and his team points to his schedule as evidence of his fitness for office.

The 2025 Fighting Oligarchy tour with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew arena-sized crowds, with Sanders, then 83-84, delivering his signature stemwinders on income inequality to audiences spanning generations. The tour's success suggested his message had found new urgency in its sixth decade.

Where Is Bernie Sanders Now?

At 85, Bernie Sanders continues to serve as Vermont's senior senator, using his platform to champion progressive causes from the Senate HELP Committee and the national stage. He remains a prolific author and speaker, drawing large crowds on tours focused on economic justice, and his endorsement remains among the most coveted in Democratic primaries.

His family life in 2026 centers on Jane, their children and seven grandchildren in Vermont. The mittens meme may have made him a folk hero, but his legacy rests on a half-century of remarkably consistent advocacy: the same fights for working people he waged as Burlington's mayor in the 1980s are the ones he wages from the Senate floor at 85.

In 2025, Sanders launched the Fighting Oligarchy tour with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, drawing some of the largest progressive crowds in years and signaling that at 84 going on 85, he remains the movement's most potent draw. The tour's stadium-sized audiences suggested his message had lost none of its resonance in the second Trump era.

Books, Mittens and Memes

Sanders is a bestselling author: Our Revolution (2016) and Where We Go from Here (2018) each sold hundreds of thousands of copies, making him one of the rare politicians whose books genuinely shape debate. But his most unexpected cultural moment came at Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration, where a photograph of Sanders sitting cross-armed in a parka and handmade mittens became one of the most memed images in internet history.

His team turned the meme into merchandise, raising over $1.8 million for Vermont charities, including Meals on Wheels, within days. The mittens themselves, made by Vermont teacher Jen Ellis from recycled sweaters, became folk artifacts. The episode captured Sanders's unique political brand: an anti-materialist socialist who accidentally created a merchandising phenomenon and gave the proceeds away.

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