November 6, 2018 2024 → | Location Vermont, United States | |
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The 2018 United States Senate election in Vermont will be held on November 6, 2018, alongside a gubernatorial election, U.S. House election, and other state and local elections. Incumbent independent Senator Bernie Sanders has indicated that he plans to run for re-election to a third term.
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Background
Two-term independent Senator Bernie Sanders was re-elected with 71% of the vote in 2012. Sanders, a former candidate for president in the 2016 election and one of two independent members of Congress, is a self-described democratic socialist. Sanders has caucused with the Democratic Party since taking office in 2007, and he is the Ranking Member of the Budget Committee. He will be 77 years old in 2018. Sanders ran for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. In November 2015, Sanders said that he would run as a Democrat in future elections. On July 28, 2016, Sanders announced he would return to the Senate as an independent and two days later in an interview on Real Time with Bill Maher that he would run for re-election.
Activist and journalist Al Giordano has stated he intends to challenge Sanders for the Democratic nomination to protest Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign, which Giordano claims has divided the Democratic Party.