Bernie Sanders is a politician.
Bernie Sanders . Sanders became the ranking minority member on the Senate Budget Committee in January 2015 ; he had previously been chair of the Senate Veterans ' Affairs Committee for two years . He served as a congressman for 16 years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 . Polls indicate that he is among the senators most popular with their constituents , ranking third in 2014 and first in both 2015 and 2016 . Sanders announced his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on April 30 , 2015 .