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Larry Sanders (politician)

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Larry Sanders
Sanders in 2008
Spokesperson for Health and Social Care of the Green Party of England and Wales
In office
February 11, 2016 – May 7, 2021[1]
Leader
Preceded byJillian Creasy
Succeeded byoffice abolished
Member of the Oxfordshire County Council
from Oxford East
In office
2005–2013
Personal details
Born
Lawrence Sanders

(1935-04-29) April 29, 1935 (age 89)
New York City, U.S.
Nationality
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
Political partyGreen (2001–present)
Labour (before 2001)
Other political
affiliations		Democratic[a]
SpouseMargaret (died 1983)
Domestic partnerJanet Hall (since 1998)
Children2
Parent
  • Elias Sanders (father)
RelativesBernie Sanders (brother)
Education

Lawrence Sanders (born April 29, 1935)[2][3] is an American-British academic, social worker, politician, and former Health and Social Care Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales. He is the older brother of Bernie Sanders, United States Senator from Vermont and two-time U.S. presidential candidate.

Early life, education, and family

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Larry Sanders was born in Brooklyn, New York City to Dorothy (née Glassberg) and Eli Sanders.[4][5] His father was a Polish-Jewish immigrant whose family was killed in the Holocaust,[4][6][7] while his mother was born in New York City on October 2, 1912, to Jewish immigrant parents from Radzyń Podlaski, in eastern Poland and Russia.[8][9][10] His father was born in Słopnice, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of Poland), on September 19, 1904,[11] immigrated to America in 1921 at age 17,[12][13] and supported his family by selling paint.[14] Sanders said that when he was a child, his family never lacked food or clothing, but major purchases "like curtains or a rug" were difficult to afford.[14] His mother died on March 25, 1960, at age 47.[7] His father died on August 4, 1962, at age 57.[11] Both he and his brother attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn.[15] Sanders has said they were young postwar Jewish radicals but part of the crowd, not yet leaders.[16]

Sanders attended Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and obtained a master's degree in social work from the University of Oxford.[17] He also attended Harvard Law School in the 1950s, leaving after two years to care for his sick mother. He returned after 35 years and completed his J.D. degree there in 1994.[18]

Sanders immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1968[19] or 1969.[20][21] He became a university lecturer, first at the University of West London and later at Oxford in the Department of Social Administration.[22]

His son, Jacob Edward "Jake" Sanders (born November 26, 1968), was elected to Oxford City Council in 2000 and was a Green Party parliamentary candidate in the Oxford East constituency at the 2005 general election.

Political career

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Sanders was active in the Labour Party in Oxford in the 1980s.[22] He left the party in 2001 because he felt that it had moved too far to the right under Tony Blair, and defected to the Green Party.[18]

First elected in 2005, Sanders was a Green Party county councillor representing the East Oxford division in the Oxfordshire County Council until he retired from the Council in 2013.[23][24] His main focuses in county politics were social and health care services. He resigned from the board of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust in October 2005 in a principled stand amid concerns that proposed cuts to services would leave vulnerable patients at greater risk.[citation needed]

Sanders became Chairman of the Oxford Community School's Board of Governors in September 2009, following the resignation of the previous chairman, Chris Ballinger, and six other board members.[25] In December 2009, the Department for Children, Schools and Families approved Oxfordshire County Council's application to disband the Board of Governors and replace them with an interim executive board. On hearing the decision, Sanders said he was 'dreadfully disappointed'.[26]

In February 2016, Sanders was appointed Health Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales. He served until May 2021.[27][28]

Sanders was elected as a pledged delegate for Bernie Sanders to the 2016 Democratic National Convention at the Democrats Abroad Global Convention in Berlin in May 2016. He tearfully spoke at the convention on July 26 of his intention to cast his vote for his brother.[29] He was the 7th-placed candidate for the Greens in the South East England constituency in the 2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom.

Electoral history

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House of Commons

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Sanders was selected to contest the Oxford East constituency at the 2017 snap general election. He finished in fourth place with 1,785 votes (3.3%).[30]

General election 2017: Oxford East[31][32]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Anneliese Dodds[33] 35,118 65.2 Increase15.2
Conservative Suzanne Bartington[34] 11,834 22.0 Increase2.1
Liberal Democrats Kirsten Johnson[35] 4,904 9.1 Decrease1.7
Green Larry Sanders[36] 1,785 3.3 Decrease8.3
Independent Chaka Artwell 255 0.5 Increase0.2
Majority 23,284 43.2 Increase13.1
Turnout 53,896 68.8 Increase4.6
Labour Co-op hold Swing Increase6.5

Sanders was selected as the Green Party candidate for the Witney by-election after Prime Minister David Cameron's resignation as an MP in September 2016.[37] He finished in fourth place with 1,363 votes (3.54%).[38]

By-election 2016: Witney[39]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robert Courts 17,313 45.0 Decrease15.2
Liberal Democrats Liz Leffman 11,611 30.2 Increase23.4
Labour Duncan Enright 5,765 15.0 Decrease2.2
Green Larry Sanders 1,363 3.5 Decrease1.6
UKIP Dickie Bird 1,354 3.5 Decrease5.7
NHA Helen Salisbury 433 1.1 0.0
Independent Daniel Skidmore 151 0.4 New
Monster Raving Loony Mad Hatter 129 0.3 New
Independent Nicholas Ward 93 0.2 New
Bus-Pass Elvis David Bishop 61 0.2 New
Eccentric Party Lord Toby Jug 59 0.2 New
English Democrat Winston McKenzie 52 0.1 New
One Love Emilia Arno 44 0.1 New
Independent Adam Knight 27 0.1 New
Majority 5,702 14.8 Decrease28.2
Turnout 38,455 46.8 Decrease26.5
Conservative hold Swing Decrease19.3

Sanders ran as a Green Party candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon at the 2015 UK general election and finished in fifth place, receiving 2,497 votes, 4.4% of the total.[21][40]

General election 2015: Oxford West and Abingdon[41]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicola Blackwood 26,153 45.7 Increase 3.4
Liberal Democrats Layla Moran 16,571 28.9 Decrease 13.1
Labour Sally Copley 7,274 12.7 Increase 2.1
UKIP Alan Harris 3,963 6.9 Increase 4.2
Green Larry Sanders 2,497 4.4 Increase 2.3
NHA Helen Salisbury 723 1.3 New
Socialist (GB) Mike Foster 66 0.1 New
Majority 9,582 16.7 Increase 16.4
Turnout 57,247 75.2 Increase 5.0
Conservative hold Swing Increase 8.2

Notes

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  1. ^ United States affiliation

References

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  1. ^ Sanders, Larry [@Sanders4Health] (April 29, 2021). "Today my 86th birthday (OMG). Term as Green Spokesperson Health and Social Care ends after local elections. We will continue our battle to restore a public NHS and create free Social Care/Support, controlled by disabled people and their families. #VoteGreen #KeepOurNHSPublic" (Tweet). Retrieved December 17, 2021 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Glenza, Jessica (October 12, 2015). "Bernie and Larry Sanders: candidate's brother crosses Atlantic to watch debate". The Guardian. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  3. ^ "1940 United States Federal Census". NARA/Ancestry.com. April 2, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Leibovich, Mark (January 21, 2007). "The Socialist Senator". The New York Times. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
  5. ^ Theis, Paul Anthony; Henshaw, Edmund Lee, eds. (1991). Who's Who in American Politics. Vol. 2. Bowker. ISBN 978-0-8352-3012-4. Retrieved December 4, 2013 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Kelly, Amita (April 29, 2015). "5 Things You Should Know About Bernie Sanders". NPR. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
  7. ^ a b Stone, Kurt (2010). The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members. Scarecrow Press. p. 483.
  8. ^ Gaudiano, Nicole (April 28, 2015). "OnPolitics: 6 things to know about Bernie Sanders". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 27, 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
  9. ^ van Zuylen-Wood, Simon (June 21, 2014). "I'm Right and Everybody Else Is Wrong. Clear About That?". National Journal. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
  10. ^ "Dorothy Glassberg". Geni.com. October 2, 1912. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Eli Sanders". Geni.com. September 12, 1904. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  12. ^ Chana, Jas (August 20, 2015). "Straight Outta Brooklyn, by Way of Vermont: The Bernie Sanders Story". Tablet. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  13. ^ "Bernie Sanders' ancestral town in Poland kvells over his Iowa performance". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. February 2, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  14. ^ a b Smith, Nicola (January 17, 2016). "Bernie ropes in British brother for showdown with Clinton". Sunday Times (London). ProQuest 1757568267.
  15. ^ Stein, Ellin.Growing Up With The Bern, Slate, February 4, 2016. Accessed February 11, 2016.
  16. ^ Roberson, Dana (November 5, 2015). "Meet Larry Sanders, Bernie's Big Brother". The Takeaway. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  17. ^ Kelley, Kevin J. "Larry Sanders on Stickball and Breaking Bread in Brooklyn".
  18. ^ a b Kelly, Kevin (May 27, 2015). "Bernie's Bro: Working-Class Brooklyn Roots Shaped My Brother". Seven Days. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  19. ^ Sanchez, Rafe (April 30, 2015). "'I'm running for Parliament but my brother is running for President'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  20. ^ "County councillor's brother elected to US Senate". The Oxford Times. Newsquest Media Group. November 8, 2006. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
  21. ^ a b Hansen, Lauren (May 8, 2015). "Bernie Sanders' brother lost his longshot bid for British Parliament". The Week. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  22. ^ a b "The Sanders brothers: A tale of two underdogs". BBC News. August 14, 2015.
  23. ^ "Election results for East Oxford". Oxfordshire County Council. June 4, 2009. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  24. ^ "Green County Councillor Retires". Oxfordshire Green Party. June 8, 2013. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
  25. ^ Bardsley, Francesca (October 2, 2009). "Fight for control at Oxford School". The Oxford Times. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
  26. ^ Bardsley, Fran (December 15, 2009). "Board ousting 'is a stitch-up'". The Oxford Times. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
  27. ^ "Green Party reveals new team of spokespeople | The Green Party". www.greenparty.org.uk. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  28. ^ Stone, Jon (February 11, 2016). "Bernie Sanders' British brother Larry Sanders appointed UK Green Party's health spokesperson". Independent (newspaper). Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  29. ^ Prokop, Andrew (July 26, 2016). "Bernie Sanders's brother gave a tearful tribute to Bernie and their parents at the DNC". VOX. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  30. ^ "Larry Sanders pledges to tackle inequality if he becomes Oxford East MP". Oxford Mail. May 9, 2017.
  31. ^ "GENERAL ELECTION: List of Oxfordshire parliamentary candidates published". The Oxford Times. May 11, 2017.
  32. ^ "South Live: Thursday 11 May". BBC News. May 11, 2017.
  33. ^ "Parliamentary candidate announced to replace Labour's Andrew Smith". Oxford Mail. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  34. ^ "Conservatives reveal Dr Suzanne Bartington as candidate for Oxford East". Oxford Mail. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  35. ^ "Dr Kirsten Johnson". Liberal Democrats.
  36. ^ "Larry Sanders pledges to tackle inequality if he becomes Oxford East MP". Oxford Mail. May 9, 2017.
  37. ^ "Tories select barrister for Cameron's Witney seat". BBC News. September 22, 2016.
  38. ^ Craig, Jon (October 21, 2016). "Conservatives hold Cameron's old seat in Witney by-election". Sky News. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  39. ^ Oliver, Matt (October 21, 2016). "AS IT HAPPENED: Witney by-election count and results". Witney Gazette. Archived from the original on April 21, 2020. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  40. ^ Collinson, Stephen (May 7, 2015). "Bernie Sanders' brotherly love". CNN. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  41. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.

Sources

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  • Oxfordshire County Council (July 2005). Who and How: Your guide to Oxfordshire County Council.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Larry Sanders.
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