FILE — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., talks to the media as he walks to the House chamber before President Joe Biden's State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent beloved by progressives, won reelection Tuesday to a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate.

Sanders defeated Republican Gerald Malloy, a U.S. Army veteran and businessman. Also on the ballot were independent candidate Steve Berry, as well as minor party candidates Mark Stewart Greenstein, Matt Hill and Justin Schoville.

The 83-year-old senator is a self-described democratic socialist who caucuses with the Democrats and twice came close to winning the presidential nomination. More recently, he has worked closely with the Biden administration to craft its domestic policy goals on health care, education, child care and workers’ rights. He is the longest serving independent in Congress.

In his victory speech Tuesday, Sanders said he and his wife Jane were deeply grateful for the generosity and support they’ve received from people all around the state.

“So, Vermont, thank you very, very much and I pledge to you to work as hard as I can to protect the best interests of our state and our country,” Sanders said, according to WCAX-TV.

Sanders said he ran again because the country faces some of its toughest and most serious challenges of the modern era. He described those as threats to its democratic foundations, massive levels of income and wealth inequality, climate change, and challenges to women’s ability to control their own bodies.

“I just did not feel with my seniority and with my experience that I could walk away from Vermont, representing Vermont, at this difficult moment in American history,” he said during a recent WCAX-TV debate.

Malloy, 62, who served 22 years in the Army and was a defense contractor for 16 years, said he thought Sanders was going to retire — and thinks he should — after 34 years in Congress. Malloy said Sanders is not delivering results.

“I have 40 years of very relative experience: business, government, military, foreign policy,” Malloy said during the debate.

Malloy, a graduate of West Point who has a master’s in business administration, had said he would work to create high-paying jobs in Vermont, promote business and innovation, and that he does not support a rise in taxes. Malloy had said he would seek to enforce immigration laws and secure the border.

Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he’s very proud of his record in Congress. He has been a consistent champion for better health care paid for by the government, higher taxes for the wealthy, less military intervention abroad, and major solutions for climate change.

Sanders is a strong critic of former President Donald Trump and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Sanders has disagreed strongly with Biden on aid for Israel’s yearlong war with Hamas and has sought to block U.S. arm sales to Israel.

Sanders got his political start as mayor of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city, from 1981 to 1989. He was later a congressman for 16 years. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He said more than a year ago that he would forgo another presidential bid and would endorse Biden.