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Funding profile

Bernard Sanders

Independent · Senator from Vermont

Career totals · 5 elections · 2006–2030

$87.8 million

raised by Sanders’s campaigns, everything from 2006 to 2030 added together.

2%

of it came from organized groups rather than from people giving on their own: at least $1.3 million from PACs, plus donations that organizations collected and directed.

$1.7 million

was spent about Sanders by outside groups. These are ads for or against them that their campaign cannot control, and none of it is part of the money above.

Every number on this page comes from Federal Election Commission filings, read on August 24, 2026. An election still under way keeps raising money, so its figure will have grown since. Check Sanders on FEC.gov

Where the money came from

Everything Sanders’s campaigns have reported raising, split by who gave it.

$87.8 millionraised
  • Individual donorsMoney given by people, in their own name.92%$81.2 million
  • Political action committeesOrganized groups: company-run committees, unions, trade associations.2%$1.3 million
  • Other sourcesParty transfers, the candidate's own money, loans and smaller categories.6%$5.3 million
Federal Election Commission filings across 5 elections. Percentages may not total 100 because each is rounded.

Money bundled through organizations

Not every “individual” donation arrives on its own. An organization can collect checks from its members, already earmarked for Sanders, and deliver them in a bundle. The law counts that as individual money, but the organization still chose where it went.

$1,100

reached Sanders this way, <1% of everything they raised from individuals. Each donation came from a real person. The organization picked who got it.

  • JStreetPAC$1,100

We can only count the organizations we have measured, so the real figure could be higher than this, never lower. Bundling is legal and widely used, and appearing here is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Who gave the most

Committee contributions from the 2024 and 2026 election periods, grouped by how the FEC classifies each giver. This covers a slice of the career total, and giving to a campaign is legal and ordinary.

  • Labor union79%$93,000
  • Membership organization9%$10,000
  • Unclassified13%$15,000

Largest committee givers

  1. 1National Education AssociationLabor · Labor unionThe largest teachers' union in the United States.$14,000
  2. 2International Association of Machinists and Aerospace WorkersOther · Labor union$10,000
  3. 3Branch 193 National Association of Letter Carriers Political Action CommitteeOther · Labor union$10,000
  4. 4Air Line Pilots AssociationOther · Labor union$10,000
  5. 5Transport Workers Union of AmericaOther · Labor union$10,000
Show all 10 giversShow fewer
  1. 6United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Active Ballot ClubOther · Labor union$10,000
  2. 7Service Employees International UnionLabor · Labor union$5,000
  3. 8American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Afl-CioLabor · Labor union$5,000
  4. 9National Union of Healthcare WorkersOther · Labor union$5,000
  5. 10International Brotherhood of TeamstersLabor · Labor union$5,000

“Unclassified” means the FEC records no organization type for that committee, which usually means a leadership PAC. We show it as unclassified rather than guessing which industry it belongs to.

Money spent about this member

Outside groups, usually super PACs, may spend without limit on ads for or against a candidate, as long as they do not coordinate with the campaign. Sanders has no legal control over any of it.

This is not a donation. Nobody gave this money to Sanders. It was spent on advertising about Sanders, and money spent against a candidate is plainly not funding them. So it never gets added to the figures above.

$1.7 million

has been spent for or against Sanders by outside groups. $1,544 supported Sanders; $1.7 million opposed Sanders.

Largest outside spenders

Summed across 3 elections, using the Commission's aggregated totals so amended filings and 24-hour notices are not double-counted.

Spent supporting

$1,524

Ads urging people to vote for this member. Still not their money, and they cannot direct how it is spent.

  • Committee not named in the filing$781
  • NATIONAL NURSES UNITED FOR PATIENT PROTECTION$520
  • NEA ADVOCACY FUND$68
  • DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA, INC. PAC$65
Show all 6 groupsShow fewer
  • KUCINICH ACTION PAC$54
  • PLANNED PARENTHOOD VOTES$36

Spent opposing

$1.7 million

Ads urging people to vote against this member. This money was spent to defeat them.

  • FUTURE45$1.7 million
  • PATRIOT VOICES PAC$6,215

Election by election

The career figures above are the sum of these elections. Each row links to the Commission’s page for that election, where the numbers match line for line.

ElectionRaisedFrom PACsOutside spending
2030in progress$24.9 million$27 <1%noneFEC
2024$36.3 million$94,000 <1%$409FEC
2018$13.1 million$192,000 1%$1.7 millionFEC
2012$7.2 million$510,000 7%$649FEC
2006$6.2 million$551,000 9%noneFEC

Raised is everything the campaign took in for that election. From PACs is the slice of it given by political action committees. Outside spending is what other groups spent on ads about the race, for and against—it is not part of “Raised”. An election marked in progress is still raising money, so its figures are not final.

We never publish the names of individual donors, and anything we cannot source stays off the page. The methodology explains every such choice.