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Bernard Sanders

Bernard Sanders

U.S. Senator for VermontI-VT

Official website ↗

631

recorded votes

6

bills sponsored

29

cosponsored

4%

votes missed

1991

first took office · Senate since 2007

The numbers

based on decisive floor votes
—

Agrees with you

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89%

Kept their word

17 kept · 2 broken

—

Sides with constituents

not enough local votes yet

84%

Votes with party

600 roll calls

“Agrees with you” compares your recorded position on a bill against this member's vote on the bill's decisive roll call — passage or an equivalent up-or-down vote, not procedural motions. Abstentions are excluded rather than counted as disagreement.

Who funds them

FEC filings, 2024 + 2026 cycles

$90k

from PACs

37

contributions

$500

routed through organizations

Individual money routed through organizations

not the organization's own money

This is individuals' money, not the organization's. Supporters write checks earmarked for a named candidate, the organization collects them and passes them on — so it isn't bound by the PAC limits above, and it doesn't come out of the organization's own funds. It is still worth knowing: somebody chose this candidate and did the gathering.

A PAC can give a candidate up to $10,000 per election cycle — $5,000 for the primary and $5,000 for the general — so totals spanning two cycles run to about $20,000 at the top end. Occasional larger figures usually mean a special election or a runoff, which counts as another election.

Money moved between committees the candidate controls — a House campaign fund transferred to a Senate run, for instance. It isn't a donation from anyone and isn't counted as one.

The PAC figures above are the organizations' own contributions only. Earmarked money they merely carried is listed separately, and independent expenditures separately again — they aren't gifts to the campaign, and money spent against a member would otherwise appear as backing. Source: FEC bulk filings ↗

Individuals vs PACs

FEC filings, 2024 cycle
From individuals$33.1M · 100%
From PACs$90k · 0%

98%

from outside Vermont

93%

in gifts under $200

11

maximum contributions

$2.4M

itemised, from 5,599 gifts

Where their donors work

  • Ta Instruments9 donors$13k
  • Google265 donors$12k
  • Meritage Group LP2 donors$6,600
  • Apple123 donors$5,259
  • Cuny185 donors$4,586
  • UCLA134 donors$3,846
  • MIT85 donors$3,844
  • Microsoft138 donors$3,632
  • Kaiser Permanente159 donors$3,557
  • Janssen Pharmaceuticals14 donors$3,510

Grouped from what donors wrote in the employer box on their own filing. It's free text, so “retired”, “self” and “homemaker” are dropped rather than dressed up as employers — and one employer can appear twice under two spellings, because merging them would mean guessing which spellings mean the same thing. A company listed here has given nothing itself; its employees have, as individuals.

Maximum donors

People who gave at least one full election maximum — 11 such contributions in total. The largest 8 are listed.

  • FERNEYHOUGH, JAMESDE$6,600
  • ROBY, DAVIDNH$6,600
  • SIMONS, NATCA$6,600
  • LAMORTE, CHARLESCA$6,600
  • RIDDER, KIMCA$5,000
  • ADCOCK, DANIELTX$3,300
  • ROBERT, TIMNY$3,300
  • YU, KAIWENWA$3,300

Name and state only — no address, no employer, and no way to search for a person on this site. These are public FEC filings, but someone who gave $3,500 is a private citizen, not a public official, and the point of listing them is to show who funds a politician rather than to build a directory of donors.

Individual giving is aggregated by the FEC and read from its API — including the $30.7M given in amounts under $200, which never appears in the bulk download because donors under that threshold aren't named. Source: FEC ↗

When a donor said what it wanted

13 bills
54%

Voted with donors

7 of 13

Across 13 bills where an organization that gave Sanders money publicly stated what it wanted, and Sanders cast a recorded vote. Those organizations gave $59k in total.

Read this carefully: it counts only bills where the organization itself stated a position, in its own lobbying filing or a public statement, and where the member cast a recorded vote. VoteWire never guesses what a donor wanted. And alignment is not influence — PACs overwhelmingly give to members who already vote their way, so a high number more often reflects who chose whom than who bought whom. The full method.

Did they keep their word?

stated position vs. recorded vote

Fair warning on reading this section: a bill can change a great deal between the day a member adds their name to it and the day it reaches the floor. Voting against a bill you cosponsored is sometimes a reversal and sometimes a reasonable response to an amendment — which is why every row links to the official record instead of just handing you a verdict.

Recent votes on bills

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BillDateThey votedYou
S. 5271 A bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require voters to provide photo identification.

On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed

Aug 8, 2026Nayweigh in
H.R. 6500 Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026

On Passage of the Bill

Aug 8, 2026Nayweigh in
H.R. 5334 Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026

On Passage of the Bill

Aug 7, 2026Nayweigh in
S.J.Res. 187 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Modification to the Start of the Submission Period for Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Reporting and Recordkeeping Under TSCA 8(a)(7)".

On the Motion to Proceed

Aug 5, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.Res. 817 An executive resolution authorizing the en bloc consideration in Executive Session of certain nominations on the Executive Calendar.

On the Resolution

Jul 30, 2026Nayweigh in
S.J.Res. 181 A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.

On the Motion to Discharge

Jul 30, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.J.Res. 199 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services relating to "Restoring Flexibility in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)".

On the Motion to Proceed

Jul 30, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.J.Res. 180 A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.

On the Motion to Discharge

Jul 23, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.J.Res. 198 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to "Medicare Program; Implementation of Prior Authorization for Select Services for the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction (WISeR) Model".

On the Motion to Proceed

Jul 16, 2026Yeaweigh in
S. 4784 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027

On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed

Jul 14, 2026Nayweigh in
S.J.Res. 196 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to "Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations".

On the Motion to Proceed

Jun 24, 2026Yeaweigh in
H.Con.Res. 86 Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran.

On the Concurrent Resolution

Jun 23, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.Res. 616 A resolution requesting information on Honduras's human rights practices pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

On the Motion to Discharge

Jun 17, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.J.Res. 172 A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.

On the Motion to Discharge

Jun 16, 2026Not Votingweigh in
S.J.Res. 190 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Executive Office for Immigration Review relating to "Appellate Procedures for the Board of Immigration Appeals".

On the Motion to Proceed

Jun 16, 2026Not Votingweigh in
S. 1318 Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration Act

On the Motion to Proceed

Jun 5, 2026Nayweigh in
S. 2 Secure America Act

On Passage of the Bill

Jun 5, 2026Nayweigh in
S.J.Res. 188 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units: Final Repeal".

On the Motion to Proceed

Jun 3, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.J.Res. 185 A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.

On the Motion to Discharge

May 19, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.J.Res. 130 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to withdrawal of the rule relating to "Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2024-05: Improper Overdraft Opt-In Practices".

On the Motion to Proceed

May 13, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.J.Res. 141 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to the withdrawal of the rule relating to "Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F); Deceptive and Unfair Collection of Medical Debt".

On the Motion to Proceed

May 13, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.J.Res. 132 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to the withdrawal of the rule relating to "Examinations for Risks to Active-Duty Servicemembers and Their Covered Dependents".

On the Motion to Proceed

May 13, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.Res. 526 A resolution withholding the pay of Senators if a Government shutdown occurs.

On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed

May 13, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.J.Res. 163 A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.

On the Motion to Discharge

May 13, 2026Yeaweigh in
S.Res. 690 An executive resolution authorizing the en bloc consideration in Executive Session of certain nominations on the Executive Calendar.

On the Resolution

May 11, 2026Nayweigh in

Bills they sponsored