The elder brother of Bernie Sanders wept with pride yesterday as he cast his vote for the US presidential hopeful from a polling booth in Oxford.
A makeshift ballot box for American expats, covered in stars and stripes in the corner of the university’s reception hall, may have been considered a modest set-up, but Larry Sanders was overwhelmed.
“I cry a lot,” he said after submitting his vote for his brother to be made the Democratic party’s nominee for the presidential elections in November. More than 3,000 miles from where Bernie, 74, was casting his vote in Vermont, Larry, 81, posted the slip of paper that represented, he said, “something enormous”.
“I am very proud and I am rooting for my brother to be president,” he said. “I am voting for someone who could make a huge difference to the world. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like if he is elected president, but simply to be able to put his name in and to sign off on him on the ballot is a tremendous feeling.”
While both brothers pursued political careers, one has achieved global fame and the other has spent life further away from the limelight.
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Bernie served for 16 years as America’s “first socialist” in the House of Representatives until 2007, when he became a senator. Since his campaign for presidency started last May, his views on social equality, raising the minimum wage and improved healthcare have attracted a growing number of supporters.
After moving to Britain in the late 1960s, Larry worked hard to carve a path for himself in local politics, representing the Green party in Oxfordshire county council for eight years. He came fifth when he ran as a Green candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon in the general election last year.
Yet, try as he might, the shadow of his younger brother looms.
Two days before Larry was appointed health spokesman of the Green party last month, his brother had secured a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.
There is no sense of sibling rivalry between the men, and Bernie has said that he credited his brother for his interest in politics. “We did not have a lot of books in the house, and it was my brother who actually introduced me to a lot of my ideas,” he said. “I owe my brother an enormous amount.”