Who Is Jane O'Meara Sanders? Meet Bernie's Wife After 2020 Announcement

After Bernie Sanders announced that he has entered the race for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, thinking about the possibility of his wife Jane O’Meara Sanders as the next first lady has become more of a reality for voters. O’Meara Sanders has an established career and is known for her advocacy work. Here’s everything we know about Sander’s wife.

1. She is a Brooklyn native that was born in 1950. She moved to Vermont in 1975.
2. Her maiden name is Mary Jane O’Meara. Her family still calls her Mary, Yahoo reported.
3. O’Meara Sanders has been married to Sanders since 1988. Together, they have a blended family of four children and seven grandchildren.
4. She was previously married to David Driscoll, her high school sweetheart, Yahoo reported. Sanders is nine years O’Meara Sanders' senior.
5. She worked a number of hourly jobs while raising her two children Heather and Carina. Now grown, Heather is a yoga instructor in Sedona, Arizona, and Carina is founder and owner of a Vermont woodworking school. She also has a son, Dave, that is the director of a Vermont snowboarding company.
6. Bernie Sanders has one child – Levi, who is a paralegal in Boston, according to Yahoo.
7. Her ex-husband had a daughter named Nicole that both O’Meara Sanders and Sanders have welcomed into their family, the news outlet said.
8. She first attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where she studied marriage and children as a sociology major. She didn’t graduate from the college as she left to get married to Driscoll, according to Yahoo.
9. She spent most of her childhood in Flatbush, New York, where her father Benedict developed a chronic illness from a blood infection that developed from a surgical pin used to fix a broken hip. He was a taxi driver when he was well.
10. O’Meara Sanders mother, Bernadette, went to secretarial school at night and she pushed for daughter to attend Catholic kindergarten at the age of 3 so she could work during the day.
11. O’Meara Sanders is the founder of the Sanders Institute, an organization dedicated to “transforming our democracy through research, education, outreach and advancement of bold, progressive ideas and values,” according to the website. It was started in June 2017.
12. She earned her Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy Studies from Union Institute & University. She also attended the Institute for Educational Management and Presidents Seminar – two Harvard University educational programs.
13. She is a political scientist that provides education and political consulting, according to the Sanders Institute’s website. She was participated in federal, state, and local political campaigns, in addition to working alongside her husband on his congressional committee as chief of staff and policy and press advisor.
14. She now serves as a fellow for the Sanders Institute which its website says she is “pursuing bold, progressive solutions to economic, environmental, racial and social justice issues.”
15. She serves on the board of directors for the Vermont Economic Development Authority and has held the position of interim president/provost of Goddard College, where she graduated from. She was also president of Burlington College.