Bernie Sanders, 82, is running for re-election to the US Senate

Famed American left-wing senator Bernie Sanders, a former White House candidate, announced on Monday that he is running for re-election to Congress, at the age of 82. “I am announcing today my intention to seek re-election,” the Vermont representative-elect said in a press release.

Bernie Sanders has more than 40 years of experience promoting socialist ideas that were long considered utopian or unthinkable in the United States. He was a candidate for the White House in 2016 and again in 2020. He had to throw in the towel against Joe Biden during the Democratic primaries, in the middle of a pandemic.

The aging of the American political class

Very popular among some young Americans, the senator has since generally supported the policies pursued by his former Democratic rival in the White House. With one notable exception: Bernie Sanders has been highly critical of the Biden administration’s support for Israel in recent weeks, condemning the “humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip and the “brutal policies” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The pro-Palestinian mobilization rocking American campuses “could be Biden’s Vietnam,” warned an independent senator who fears he will lose “not just young people, but a significant part of the Democratic base.” Bernie Sanders’ new candidacy is also part of a lively debate over the aging American political class. President Joe Biden is 81 years old. Donald Trump, his Republican opponent in the November presidential election, is 77 years old.