By james art 
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent beloved by progressives, is trying to win a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.
The 83-year-old senator is a self-described democratic socialist who has caucused with Democrats and twice came close to winning the presidential nomination. Most recently, he worked closely with the Biden administration to craft its domestic policy goals on health care, education, child care, and workers’ rights.
The longest-serving independent in Congress is being challenged by Republican Gerald Malloy, a US Army veteran and businessman. Also on the ballot are independent Steve Berry, as well as minor party candidates Mark Stewart Greenstein, Matt Hill and Justin Chauville.
Sanders says he will run again because the country is facing some of the toughest and most serious challenges of the modern era. He described them as threats to its democratic foundations, huge levels of income and wealth inequality, climate change and challenges to women’s ability to control their own bodies.
“I just didn’t feel with my seniority and my experience that I could walk away from Vermont, representing Vermont, at this difficult time in American history,” he said at a recent WCAX-TV debate.
Malloy, 62, who served 22 years in the Army and 16 years as a defense contractor, said he thought Sanders would retire — and thinks he should — after 34 years in Congress. Malloy said Sanders is not getting results.
“I have 40 years of very relative experience: business, government, military, foreign policy,” Malloy said during the debate.
Malloy, a West Point graduate with a master’s degree in business administration, says if elected, he will work to create high-paying jobs in Vermont, encourage business and innovation and not support raising taxes. Malloy said he would seek to enforce immigration laws and secure the border.
Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he was very proud of his record in Congress. He has been a consistent advocate for better government-paid health care, higher taxes for the wealthy, less military intervention abroad and major solutions to climate change.
Sanders said it was the nation’s most consecutive presidential election in modern history. He is a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Sanders strongly disagreed with Biden on aid to Israel’s long-running war with Hamas and sought to block US arms sales to Israel.
Sanders got his political start as mayor of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city, from 1981 to 1989. He later served as a congressman for 16 years.
He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He said more than a year ago that he would forgo another presidential bid and support Biden’s re-election this year before Biden ended his bid in July.