THE TAKETrailAI · auto-generated
Sanders raised $45.9 million entirely from individual donors with zero reliance on PACs or committees across 561,911 contributions. Industry-tied money in his donor base was distributed across commercial banking (20%), education (16%), technology (14%), and health services (13%), with individual employed donors concentrated in education, technology, and health services sectors. His voting record includes 117 recorded votes with no stock trade disclosures on file.
Raised · all cycles$45.9M▼ 52% in ’24 vs ’22#1 in party · by cycle ↴
Top sector share20%Commercial Banks
Donor-sector votes8on bills touching top donor sectors
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Left: who funds Sanders (ribbon width = dollars) · right: their votes on bills classified as favoring vs limiting those sectors
“Favors / limits” is an AI classification of each bill's likely effect on the sector — a factual reading of the bill, not a claim about motive. Correlation, not causation. The named bills are in DOES THE MONEY MATCH THE VOTES? below.
DOES THE MONEY MATCH THE VOTES?
How Sanders voted on bills touching their biggest donor sectors · 6 of 8 shown, ranked by sector money
Each dollar figure is Sanders's total from that donor sector — shown on each related vote, not a per-vote amount. Correlation between funding and votes, not causation; many factors shape any single vote.
TOP SOURCES
1$985K
M&T BANK
corporation
2$552K
VERMONT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
corporation
3$165K
NORTH COUNTRY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
corporation
4$68K
BIG US MEDIA LLC
corporation
5GOOGLE
$62K
employees
ALIGNMENT SIGNALS
Lobbying–Donor Overlap84%
Bernard Sanders (I) voted NAY sjres18-119; Commercial Banks is their largest tracked donor sector (20%) with 7541 active lobbying filings
This joint resolution would nullify a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule capping overdraft charges at $5 for very large Commercial Banks. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) voted NAY on sjres18-119. Commercial Banks constitutes 20.2% of Sanders' identifiable donor base ($9.27M), and Commercial Banks industry entities filed 7,541 lobbying reports since 2022 related to this legislation.
Lobbying–Donor Overlap84%
Bernard Sanders (I) voted NAY sjres13-119; Commercial Banks is their largest tracked donor sector (20%) with 7541 active lobbying filings
The bill sjres13-119 would nullify a Treasury rule revising bank merger review procedures, including removing automatic approvals for Commercial Banks applicants. Senator Bernard Sanders voted NAY on sjres13-119. Commercial Banks ranks as Sanders' largest donor industry at 20.2% of identifiable contributions ($9.27M), while Commercial Banks entities filed 7,541 lobbying reports on related issues since 2022.
Grassroots Funding81%
Bernard Sanders raised 69% from sub-$200 small-dollar donors — #1 most grassroots-funded in the Senate
69% of the $45.9M in contributions Bernard Sanders raised across the tracked cycles came from donors giving under $200 — the FEC's "unitemized" small-dollar tier — ranking #1 of 97 Senate members raising over $1M. Small-dollar totals are reported by campaigns directly to the FEC; individual donors below $200 are not itemized by law.
LEGISLATION
2 sponsored
COMMITTEES
Environment and Public Works
Finance
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Ranking Member
Budget
Veterans' Affairs
SIMILAR DONOR NETWORKS
Members funded by the same industries — overlapping donor networks may reflect shared policy interests.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
D-NY · House
EducationTechnologyHealth Services
Elizabeth Warren
D-MA · Senate
EducationTechnologyHealth Services
Rashida Tlaib
D-MI · House
EducationTechnologyHealth Services
Ilhan Omar
D-MN · House
EducationTechnologyHealth Services
Jeff Merkley
D-OR · Senate
EducationTechnologyHealth Services
Suhas Subramanyam
D-VA · House
TechnologyHealth ServicesGovernment