The political journey of Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders seemed to come out of nowhere in 2015 when he announced that he would challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he was soon drawing huge crowds nationwide. Although his campaign would ultimately fall short, his message of economic justice won him many supporters and changed the political conversation. In fact, it was the same message Sanders had been running on for decades. The selfdescribed democratic socialist made national headlines in 1981 when he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vt., but he developed a reputation as a political pragmatist. As a congressman, and later as a senator, Sanders spent much of his career in Washington in the political wilderness, a champion of progressive causes in an era in which Democrats were moving to the center. In his second run for the Democratic nomination, Sanders is no longer alone on the left wing of the party, and critics wonder whether he has the ability to broaden his message and expand his base. Read moreSubscribe to The Washington Post on YouTube