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Project Curia

Financing

U.S. Senator · VT

Bernard Sanders

IndependentSenate Class 1Term through January 2031

Funding profile · 2019–2024 term

63% of the money Sanders raised came from small donors.

Among the most grassroots-funded in the Senate.

Sanders raised $36.3M across the full six-year Senate term (2019–2024), and ended the period with $10.7M cash on hand. Here is where the money came from.

63%from small donors
Small donors
63%$22.7M
Large donors
29%$10.4M
Bundled
0%$0.0M
PACs
0%$0.1M
Other
8%$3.1M

Against the senate

How Sanders compares to the typical member.

Small-donor share
63%vs 19% senate median
PAC share
0%vs 14% senate median

Who has a stake in Sanders

The organizations behind the money.

Sanders's largest organized backing comes from Air Line Pilots Association PAC. That counts the group's own PAC check plus the individual donations it bundled, not just the direct check.

Money organized for Sanders

Air Line Pilots Association PAC

$10K

The Air Line Pilots Association's PAC, representing commercial airline pilots.

Who it funds, across Congress

64% Democrats · 36% Republicans · $1.9M to 329 members

United Food & Commercial Workers International Uni$10K

The United Food and Commercial Workers' international PAC, representing grocery, meatpacking, and retail workers.

Who it funds, across Congress

98% Democrats · 0% Republicans · $879K to 143 members

Courage To Change$5K

Who it funds, across Congress

92% Democrats · 0% Republicans · $63K to 11 members

National Nurses United PAC$5K

Who it funds, across Congress

96% Democrats · 0% Republicans · $117K to 43 members

Aksm Urology PAC 'Aksm Urology PAC'$5K

Who it funds, across Congress

45% Democrats · 51% Republicans · $123K to 21 members

The same money, by industry

Which industries have a stake.

The same organized money, grouped by the industry of the organization that moved it. It shows the interests behind Sanders's backing, not just the individual groups.

$51KLabor
$10KIdeological
$10KHealth
$4KPro-Israel

Plus $12K from organizations whose FEC name did not sort into an industry.

FEC filings, 2019–2024 term · as of August 2026 · showing the top 5 funders of 19 organizations with a stake

About this data

FEC-disclosed receipts for the 2019–2024 term. This is the disclosed money only. Spending by outside groups that do not reveal their donors, the dark money that set a record in 2024, never appears in these figures.

Every percentage here is a share of all receipts, not of individual contributions only. So the small-donor share counts transfers, loans, and other money in its base, and can read higher than figures that divide only by individual money.

PAC figures are contributions to Sanders's campaign committee from FEC filings. Industry labels are grouped from each committee's name and are approximate. Joint fundraising committees and small-dollar conduits like ActBlue and WinRed are not counted.

84%want dark money disclosed

Support for requiring the groups that spend on elections to name their donors, across both parties. Congress has not passed the DISCLOSE Act.

Where Sanders stands