| Net Worth: | About $2 million or more |
|---|---|
| Age/Date of Birth: | 82 years old (September 08, 1941) |
| Height: | 6 ft or 183 cm |
| Ethnicity/Race: | White |
| Nationality: | American |
| Wife or Girlfriend: | Jane O’Meara Driscoll (1988-Present). He was formerly married to Deborah Shiling (m. 1964; div. 1966) |
| Parents: | Elias Ben Yehuda Sanders and Dorothy Sanders |
Born on September 8, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York, Bernie Sanders transferred to the University of Chicago from Brooklyn College during his freshman year and got active in the Civil Rights Movement. With a degree in political science, he moved to Israel and started working as a writer, filmmaker, and researcher to make his living. He eventually became known as a politician, and it’s one of the known sources of his wealth.
Salaries From His Political Career Have Contributed a Significant Amount to His Wealth
Bernie Sanders got involved in politics when he joined the anti-Vietnam War Liberty Union Party in 1971. Thereafter, he ran and lost elections for the US Senate and governor from 1972 to 1976. He again ran for the Mayor of Burlington in 1981 and won the contest while also winning three more terms. By 1988, Sanders was known to be an independent politician, and he ran for the US House of Representatives, winning the second time in 1990.
He became the first independently elected representative in 40 years after Frazier Reams of Ohio and eventually made his name winning re-election in 1994. Bernie Sanders was often called ‘an ineffective extremist’. However, Sanders ran for the Senate in 2005 after Jeff Jeffords retired. He was campaigned for by big names in US politics, including New York Senator Chuck Schumer and then-senator Barack Obama. He won, was re-elected in 2012, and has been a member of the Senate since then.
His base salary as a Senator is $174,000 per year. In his July 2015 personal filing, the Vermont Senator stated that his assets were valued between $194,026 and $741,000 in his wife Jane Sanders’ name. The filing also listed credit card debt between $25,002 and $65,000.
He Has Made Millions from Books Deals and Sales Over the Last Few Years
Sanders ran for the 2016 Presidential elections as a Democrat. Despite losing to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination, he gained a lot of popularity that positively affected the sale of his books.
The politician had a good financial year in 2016 which saw him make around $858,750 off book royalties alone. Combined with his Senate salary, Sanders pulled over $1 million in earnings that year.
Between 2016 and 2018, the politician has published three popular books. They include Where We Go From Here: Two Years in the Resistance, Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In, and Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution. Reports have it that he also made around $850,000 in book royalties in 2017 and close to $400,000 in 2018.
The Politician Also Makes Money from Speaking Engagements
Bernie received money from three different speeches in 2013 and 2014. $638.94 from Avalon Publishing Group, another $378.48 from Avalon Publishing Group, and $850.00 from Mahar Live Inc. which he subsequently donated to charity.
The septuagenarian politician will collect an annual pension of $71,340 if he retires from politics at the end of his current Senate term. His pension money is calculated using the current Congressional pension formula.
Bernie Sanders and His Wife Owns Three Homes
Regarded as one of the least wealthy members of Congress, it has been said that Bernie Sander’s homes are among his most valuable assets. Sometime in 2009, the couple obtained a $324,000 mortgage from the Congressional Federal Credit Union which they used to acquire their $405,000 4-bedroom home in Chittenden County Vermont.
In 2016 after the politician ended his 2016 presidential campaign, the couple acquired their latest property, a vacation home located north of Burlington. From what we gathered, they parted with $575,000 to own the property. They bought their other home in D.C. sometime in 2007 for $489,000.
His Wall Street Investment Portfolio
Here’s a breakdown of Sanders’ wealth from his assets, according to US Senate.
- Tiaa Cref Equities $50,001 – $100,000
- Tiaa Cref Equities $50,001 – $100,000
- Tiaa Guaranteed Traditional $50,001 – $100,000
- Tiaa Real Estate $15,001 – $50,000
- VALIC ASSET ALLOC $15,001 – $50,000
- VALIC SMALL CAP $15,001 – $50,000
- VALIC MID CAP INDEX $15,001 – $50,000
- VALIC SOCIALLY RESP $15,001 – $50,000
- VALIC AGGR GROWTH LI $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC MOD GROWTH LI $1,001 – $15,000
- VNGRD LI FGRO $1,001 – $15,000
- VNGRD LI FMOD $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC GOVT SECURITIES $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC STRATEGIC BOND $1,001 – $15,000
- VNGRD LT TRSRY $1,001 – $15,000
- VNGRD LT INV GRADE $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC SCIENCE & TECH $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC INT’L EQUITIES $1,001 – $15,000
- Cref Fixed Income $1,001 – $15,000
- Cref Social Choice $1,001 – $15,000
- Tiaa Personal Annuity Fixed $1,001 – $15,000
- Tiaa Personal Annuity Stock Acount $1,001 – $15,000
- Valic Core Equity $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC DIV VALUE $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC STOCK INDEX $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC SMALL CAP INDEX $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC SOCIAL AWARENESS $1,001 – $15,000
- VALIC INTL GOVT BOND Less Than $1,001
- VALIC MONEY MARKET II Less Than $1,001
A Look At His Earnings Over the Years As Revealed By His Tax Return
The Senator released 10 years of his tax returns even before the 2020 presidential campaign’s primaries began. While he was praised for this, people got to learn what he had earned in 10 years, from 2009 to 2018.
- 2009 – $314,742
- 2010 – $321,592
- 2011 – $324,870
- 2012 – $280,954
- 2013 – $279,724
- 2014 – $205,617
- 2015 – $240,610
- 2016 – $1,062,626
- 2017 – $1,150,891
- 2018 – $561,293
Bernie Sanders Met His Current Wife for the First Time in 1981
- Full Name: Mary Jane O’Meara Sanders
- Date of Birth: January 3, 1950
- Occupation: Social Worker, College Administrator, and Political Strategist
- Duration of Marriage: 1988 – Present
Bernie Sanders reportedly met his wife in 1981, a few days after he emerged as the 37th Mayor of Burlington. It is said that they met again at his victory party and gradually began a friendship that morphed into a romance in the years that followed. According to Jane, she fell in love with the politician because he was real and embodied the things she believed in. It is hard to tell when they began dating, but it was in 1988 that the couple got married.
Born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn, Jane earned a degree in Social Work from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. She would later proceed to the Union Institute & University to obtain a doctorate in Leadership Studies in Politics and Education. Over the course of her career, she has dedicated herself to public service. It is known that Jane worked with the Juvenile Division of the Burlington Police Department. Around the time she met and fell in love with Sanders, Jane was the Director of the Mayor’s Youth Office and Department Head in Burlington.
In the years that followed, she would serve as the provost and interim president of Goddard College; this was from 1996 to 1997. From 2004 to 2011, Bernie Sanders’ wife was the president of Burlington College.
The Senator Had His Only Biological Child With Susan Campbell Mott
- Name: Levi Sanders
- Date of Birth: March 21, 1969
- Occupation: Policy Strategist
- Mother: Susan Campbell Mott
Mary Jane isn’t Bernie’s first wife, nor is she the only woman the politician has been romantically involved with. Before her, he was in a relationship with Susan Campbell Mott. It is believed that Bernie and Susan began dating after his divorce from his first wife, Deborah Shiling Messing. The politician met Deborah in college, and they got married in 1964. As fate would have it, the union failed to produce any child and ended in divorce in 1966. He started dating Susan, and in 1969 they had Levi Sanders, the only biological child of the politician.
It is disgraceful that @NHDems is charging $37,500 for access to the NH-1 voter file. Does it make sense that Republicans get their list free of cost while the party supporting #CampaignFinanceReform shuts out most candidates?https://t.co/w3sGJlfkeF#NHpolitics #nh01 #37500
— Levi Sanders for Congress NH-1 (@LeviSanders_nh1) July 21, 2018
As culled from his Linkedin page, Levi is a policy strategist. He graduated from the University of Oregon where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1992. Thereafter (from 1994 to 2000), he worked as the General Manager of Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. Apart from working for his father’s various campaigns, he has been serving Cambridge & Somerville Legal Services as a Social Security Senior Legal Analyst since 2000.
Bernie Sanders isn’t the first husband of his wife as well. Before him, she was married to a fellow named Dave Driscoll with whom she had three kids named Heather Titus, Carina Driscoll, and David Driscoll. The politician adopted the kids, so he’s a father of four.
Key TakeAways
- Bernie Sanders has been married twice; first to Deborah Shiling Messing and now to Mary Jane O’Meara Sanders.
- He has no biological child with both of his wives but adopted Mary Jane’s three kids from her previous marriage.
- His only biological child is a son named Levi Sanders, and he had him with his ex-girlfriend named Susan Campbell Mott.
Quotes
Here are some of our all-time favourite Bernie quotes;
- I am a socialist: of course, I am a socialist. To hold a vision that society can be fundamentally different, to believe that all people can be equal – that is not a new idea.
- If the environment were a bank, it would have been saved by now.
- The problems we face did not come down from the heavens. They are made, they are made by bad human decisions, and good human decisions can change them.
- A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much and so many have so little.
- Nobody who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty.
- A job should lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it.
- Americans’ right to free speech should not be proportionate to their bank accounts.
- Real freedom must include economic security.
- I think what the American people are saying is enough. This country, this great country, belongs to all of us. It cannot continue to be controlled by a handful of billionaires who apparently want it all.
- It’s better to show up than to give up.
- Real change never occurs from the top on down, [but] always from the bottom on up.
- The only way change happens is when people become more significantly involved in the political process.
- I’m not really opposed to people changing their minds. I’m much more concerned with people who never change their minds no matter what new information is available.
- The point is, change can come about, but it only comes about when millions of people are actively involved in political struggle, the billionaires may have the money, but we have the people.
- When millions of people stand up and fight…they win.
- Finally, let’s understand that when we stand together, we will always win. When men and women stand together for justice, we win. When black, white, and Hispanic people stand together for justice, we win.
| Profile Summary | |
|---|---|
| First Name: | Bernie |
| Last Name: | Sanders |
| Also Known As: | Unknown |
| Sex/Gender: | Male |
| Profession: | Politician |
| Famous For: | Being arguably being the most popular socialist politician in the United States |
| Colleges/Universities Attended: | Brooklyn College, University of Chicago |
| Educational Qualifications: | Bachelor of arts degree in Political Science |
| Religion: | Judaism |
| Birthday & Zodiac |
|
| Age/Date of Birth: | 82 years old (September 08, 1941) |
| Zodiac Sign: | Virgo |
| Birth Place: | New York City, New York, United States |
| Nationality: | American |
| Ethnicity/Race: | White |
| Country of Residence: | The United States |
| Physical Attributes |
|
| Height: | 6 ft or 183 cm |
| Weight: | 80 kg or 176.5 lbs |
| Eye Colour: | Dark Brown |
| Hair Color: | White |
| Other Body Measurements: | Not known |
| Relationships | |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Spouse/Partner: | Jane O’Meara Driscoll (1988-Present). He was formerly married to Deborah Shiling (m. 1964; div. 1966) |
| Family and Relatives |
|
| Father: | Elias Ben Yehuda Sanders |
| Mother: | Dorothy Sanders |
| Children: | Son, Levi Sanders. He is also a stepfather to his wife's 3 children named Dave Driscoll (born 1975), Carina Driscoll (born 1974), and Heather Driscoll (born 1971). |
| Siblings: | Larry Sanders (Older Brother) |
| Other Relatives: | Leibisch “Leon” Yehuda Sander (Paternal Grandfather), Ettel /Etla /Jetti “Ethel” Guttman (Paternal Grandmother), Benjamin /Benyamin Ben Avraham Meier Glassberg (Maternal Grandfather), Breine “Bessie” Greenberg (Maternal Grandmother) |
| Net Worth | |
| Estimated Net Worth: | About $2 million or more |
| Salary: | $174, 000 (base salary) annually as a US Senator |
| Source of Wealth: | Politics, investments |
