Birth Name: Bernard Sanders
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York
Date of Birth: September 8, 1941
Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish
Bernie Sanders is an American politician. He has served as a United States Senator from Vermont since 2007; an independent, he caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate. He has previously been Mayor of Burlington, Vermont (from 1981 to 1989), and a U.S. Representative from Vermont (from 1991 to 2007). Bernie is a candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States in 2016.
Bernie is the son of Dora/Dorothy (Glassberg) and Eli Sanders. His father was a Polish Jewish immigrant. His mother was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents.
Bernie’s paternal grandparents were Leon Sander and Ettel “Ethel” Horn.
Bernie’s maternal grandparents were Benjamin Glassberg/Glassburg (the son of Abraham Glassburg) and Brayna “Bessie” Greenberg.
Several people of Jewish heritage have previously run plausible or semi-plausible campaigns for a major party’s nomination for President of the United States. These candidates include Barry Goldwater (1960 and 1964; Republican; received the 1964 nomination), Milton Shapp (1976; Democratic), Larry Agran (1992; Democratic), Arlen Specter (1996; Republican), Joe Lieberman (2004; Democratic), John Kerry (2004; Democratic; received the nomination), and Wesley Clark (2004; Democratic).
Shapp, Agran, Specter, and Lieberman were/are Jewish by religion, while the other three not were/are not. Goldwater was born to a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, and was raised an Episcopalian. Kerry’s paternal grandparents were Jewish and converted to Catholicism, and Kerry himself is a practicing Catholic. Clark was born to a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, and is a practicing Catholic.
Sources: Bernie’s parents on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Bernie’s mother on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Photo: “Bernie Sanders” by United States Congress – http://sanders.senate.gov/. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.