Bernie Sanders: Everything you need to know about the 2020 candidate

Key facts about Sanders

• Current position: Senator from Vermont — 12 years served
• Age: 77
• Born: Brooklyn, New York
• Undergraduate: Brooklyn College, University of Chicago
• Date candidacy announced: Feb. 19, 2019
• % of votes in line with Trump, per FiveThirtyEight: 14.4%
• Previous roles: House Representative for Vermont's at-large congressional district, Mayor of Burlington, Vermont.

Sanders' stance on key issues:

• Medicare For All: Sanders spearheaded a sweeping Medicare for All plan, which he introduced in 2017.
• Green New Deal: Sanders is a co-sponsor of the bill and has spoken consistently about the severity of climate change.
• Taxes: Sanders has long said he supports raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. He recently proposed hiking estate taxes for millionaires and billionaires, including a top rate of 77% for estates over $1 billion.
• Minimum wage: Sanders co-sponsored a bill in April 2017 that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15. In September 2018, he introduced the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act, which would tax companies for public benefits their workers accessed.
• College tuition: A key point of Sanders' 2016 presidential run was his proposal to make college tuition free and debt free.
• Marijuana: He co-sponsored fellow 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker's recently reintroduced Marijuana Justice Act, that would legalize marijuana on the federal level.

Key criticisms of Sanders

• Socialism: That he's too far left. Or that the party has moved past him and he is no longer the only potential candidate who can carry the "progressive" label.
• Campaign staff sexual misconduct: Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign was plagued by patterns of sexism and inappropriate behavior among members.
• Age: A recent poll found 43 of Iowa's 76 Democratic county party leaders say they want a young candidate to be their nominee for president in 2020.
• Lack of loyalty: Despite running for president as a Democrat in 2016, Sanders has always identified as an independent and has said he won't join the party.
• Pragmatism: Many of Sanders' proposals would need high levels of government spending, creating questions about how feasible some of them actually are.

1 fun thing about Bernie

• While serving as mayor of Burlington, he recorded a folk album — titled "We Shall Overcome" — with 30 Vermont musicians.

Go deeper: Everything you need to know about the other 2020 candidates