Voters in Vermont Will Send Socialist to Fill U.S. House Seat

Former Burlington Mayor Bernard Sanders became the first socialist in the U.S. House of Representatives in 40 years Tuesday by ousting Republican Rep. Peter Smith.

With 96% of the precincts reporting, Sanders had 108,061 votes, 56%, to 75,604 votes, 39%, for Smith.

The comparison between Sanders and the last House socialist, Vito Marcantonio, highlights a significant change in the left wing of American politics.

Only three members of Congress in this century have carried the socialist banner. In the early part of the century, Reps. Meyer London and Victor Berger, both members of the Socialist Party, represented working-class strongholds of radicalism in Milwaukee and New York City. Marcantonio, a member of the American Labor Party, similarly represented working-class sections of New York City during his 14 years in Congress, which ended with his defeat in 1950, during the early part of what became known as the era of McCarthyism.

By contrast, Sanders, 49, who ran as an independent, will represent a mostly rural state that was once solidly Republican but has been transformed by mostly middle-class immigrants from New York and Massachusetts seeking clean air, open spaces and a more relaxed life.