Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is winding down his long political career. “I suspect that’s not going to happen,” he told journalist Robert Costa when asked about a third bid for the Democratic presidential nomination during an event at the National Press Club.Sanders had all but ruled out running for reelection to the Senate seat he’s held since 2007 when his current term expires, saying shortly after he won again in 2024 that this would likely be his last go-round. (He has been more equivocal on that front, however: Last January, he filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission to run again in 2030, just weeks after being sworn in for his fourth term.)But the 84-year-old socialist clearly knows that his age is a limitation at this point. “Because they want youthful vigor in the White House! That’s what they want. We’re tired of these 30- and 40-year-old people,” he quipped to the laughing audience when asked about his 2028 plans. “What we really need are 80-year-olds running the country.”
Sanders’s ideology aside, it would be remarkable for the country to elect its third consecutive octogenarian president after never having previously voted for a commander-in-chief of that age. “I know I look like I’m 30; I am not. And that’s that,” he said.
