Bernie Sanders is in the Senate.
Bernard Sanders ( born September 8 , 1941 ) is an American politician who has been the junior United States Senator from Vermont since 2007 . On July 12 , 2016 , Sanders formally endorsed Clinton against her Republican general election opponent Donald Trump , while urging his supporters to continue the `` political revolution '' his campaign had begun . The 2016 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders , the junior United States Senator and former Representative from Vermont , began with an informal announcement on April 30 , 2015 , and a formal announcement that he planned to seek the Democratic Party 's nomination for President of the United States on May 26 , 2015 , in Burlington , Vermont . The 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses were a series of electoral contests organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the Democratic National Convention held July 25 -- 28 and determine the nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election .