Bernie Sanders is a U.S. Senator running to potentially get the Democratic Party nomination to run for president.

You might not be familiar with him as it seems he is underestimated as he isn’t as braggadocious as republican Donald Trump or considered the frontrunner like Hilary Clinton. He’s serving his second term in the U.S. Senate after winning the re-election in 2012 with 71 percent of the vote. Sanders previously served as mayor of Vermont’s largest city for eight years before defeating an incumbent Republican to be the sole congressperson for the state in the U.S. House of Representatives. Is it too early to be talking about the issues and what candidate you are voting for? Not if you want to make an educated vote it isn’t.

From an early age Sanders has been passionate about politics and fighting for rights of all people. In the 1960’s he was Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) officer. He led students in a multi-week sit-in to oppose segregation in off-campus housing owned by University of Chicago at just 20-years-old.

He has passionately fought for equality; nonviolently of course. In August of 1963 he and his fellow activists took an overnight bus to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech at the March on Washington for Job and Freedom.

In the 1970’s he gained momentum to gain his US. Senate seat by first winning 2 percent of the vote in his first ever statewide race, a special election for a U.S. Senate seat in Vermont. Then he won 1 percent of the vote in his second run for his seat during an election of a state governor. In 1974 and 1976 respectably he won 4 percent of the vote than 6 percent of the vote and he even replaced a governor in 1976.

During the 1980s, Sanders made moves to become the mayor of Vermont winning by a mere 10 votes. During his second term as mayor he established the Burlington Community Land Trust, the first municipal housing land trusts in the country for affordable housing. The project became a model emulated throughout the world. It later won an award from Jack Kemp-led HUD US. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Sanders defeated incumbent republican Peter Smith in a race to be Vermont’s sole congressman. He was the first independent elected to the House in 40 years. During his time he voted against a measure allowing President George H. W. Bush the authorization to use military force in the Gulf War by stating, “I have a real fear that the region is not going to be more peaceful or more stable after the war.”

He also passed the first signed piece of legislation to create the National Program of Cancer Registries. A Reader’s Digest article calls the law “the cancer weapon America needs most.” All 50 states now run registries to help cancer researchers gain important insights.

In July, 1996 he’s one of only 67 votes against the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples legally married. Sanders urged the Supreme Court to throw out the law, which it did in a landmark 2013 ruling – some 17 years later.

Now where does Bernie Sanders stand on the issues in this upcoming 2016 election? He wants to reduce income and wealth inequality by demanding wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes. He will create a progressive estate tax on the top 0.3 percent of Americans who inherit more than $3.5 million.

He will also enact a tax on Wall Street speculators who caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, homes and life savings. He will work to increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2020. In the year 2015, no one who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty.

These are just some of his plans. He also aims to make college tuition free and debt free by making tuition free at public colleges and universities and stopping the federal government from making a profit on student loans.

He wants to decrease the amount of big money in politics and hopefully shine a light on how many politicians are being bought as he aims to overturn the U.S. Citizens United decision which opened the door wide open for corporations and the wealthy to spend an exorbitant amount of money to buy elected officials.

To find out more about his platform check out his website https://berniesanders.com/issues/. If you want to be informed on the issues and or want to know what candidate think and who you connect with take the 2016 presidential election quiz at https://www.isidewith.com/.

Whatever you do, do your research and become educated on the candidates to make an informed decision on who you vote for.