Bernie Sanders’ longevity on campaign trail surprises the Senate

ONE year ago, few members of the US Senate would have predicted that Sen. Bernie Sanders would be the last of five senators to remain in the final stretches of a presidential primary.

Unlike GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who returned to the chamber this week, or Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who ended his campaign in March, the independent from Vermont did not appear to be strategizing years ahead for a White House run. When he did enter the race last spring, he made clear that a large part of his goal was to promote liberal policies and keep the pressure on Mrs. Clinton to embrace them.

“I thought it was more an ideologically driven desire to bring issues up” than personal ambition, Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) said of Mr. Sanders’s foray into presidential politics.

But to the surprise of many on Capitol Hill, Mr. Sanders and his fiery attacks on Wall Street, income inequality and other popular targets have made him a longer-lasting presence in the Democratic primary than any of his rivals across the aisle. In addition to Messrs. Cruz and Rubio, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina waged unsuccessful bids that ended well before Donald Trump last week effectively clinched the GOP nomination.

“He’s surprised a lot of people and exceeded a lot of people’s expectations,” Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a member of Senate GOP leadership, said of Mr. Sanders Wednesday.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) said he had expected Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton to blunt Mr. Sanders’s momentum much earlier in the process. Instead, Mr. Sanders has continued winning recent contests, including Indiana last week and the West Virginia primary Tuesday night, though Mrs. Clinton holds a commanding lead in delegates.

“My gosh, at his age, to be able to be as energetic as he is, that’s terrific,” the 82-year-old Mr. Hatch said of the 74-year-old Mr. Sanders. “I don’t agree with him. I think he’s basically a Socialist, but I give him a lot of credit.”

Mr. Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist. His supporters chalk up his success to a style that registers as authentic and his laser focus on issues important to Democratic voters, including Wall Street regulation, climate change, college affordability and overhauling the campaign-finance system.

Michael Briggs, spokesman for Mr. Sanders, said the candidate “has big ideas that are resonating with Americans who want to fix our rigged economy propped up by a corrupt campaign-finance system,” Michael Briggs, spokesman for Mr. Sanders said.

His stances “deeply resonate with the American public,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore), the only senator to endorse Mr. Sanders, concurs. “That’s why he’s still in the campaign.”

Mr. Merkley noted that political prognosticators, including lawmakers, have misjudged this election year at every turn. “Nobody thought that Trump would still be in the race and nobody thought Bernie would still be in the race. That kind of sums it up.”

Mr. Sanders has also resisted calls from some in the Democratic Party to drop out and let Mrs. Clinton focus fully on her race against Mr. Trump.