Many are wondering whether Bernie Sanders will run for president or be chosen as Kamala Harris’s vice president, now that Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. The 82-year-old senator from Vermont (who turns 83 on September 8, 2024) has run for president twice, the first in 2016, when Hilary Clinton became the Democratic nominee, and the second in 2020, when Joe Biden won the nomination. Will the third attempt be decisive? Here’s what we know so far about Sanders possibly running as the Democratic nominee against Donald Trump, or if he could be chosen as vice president on the Harris ticket.

Bernie Sanders is keeping his options open regarding running for president as of this writing. As of July 23, he has not endorsed Kamala Harris and there is no word that he is on the list of potential VP picks for Harris.

In April 2022, the senator stated in a memo from Faiz Shakir, a close adviser to Sanders, that he “has not ruled out a new presidential bid,” specifically “in the event of an open Democratic primary for president in 2024.” While Harris has been endorsed by Joe Biden, no clear frontrunner has yet won a majority of delegates, so the upcoming DNC will technically be an “open” convention. That said, if no one runs against Harris in the 2024 Democratic primary, then an “open” convention means very little.

In response to Biden's withdrawal, Sanders wrote in a July 21 post on X that he had "served our country with honor and dignity" and called him "the most pro-working class president in modern American history." On July 19, Sanders appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he criticized Trump's climate change policies, opening the show by saying "I accept your nomination!" as his name was chanted by the audience.