The Ticket was a weekly look at presidential politics from a Texas perspective in the leadup to the 2016 election. It included veteran political reporters Jay Root of The Texas Tribune and Ben Philpott of KUT News. Find it on SoundCloud and Stitcher. More in this series

This week on The Ticket: Bernie Sanders has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2016 presidential campaign. But those who know the Vermont senator’s history aren’t surprised at all. The Texas Tribune’s Jay Root and KUT’s Ben Philpott go back in time to hear from Sanders in his days as mayor of Burlington, Vt. The two also talk with UT-Austin pollster Jim Henson about what’s behind the Sanders surge. 

Visit TheTicket2016.com, where you can find more episodes and links to subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher.

Texans need the truth. Help us report it.

Become a member. Join today.

Choose an amount or learn more about membership.

Ben Philpott is a senior reporter for KUT-FM, Austin’s National Public Radio affiliate. He has been covering state politics and dozens of other topics for the station since 2002, during which time he...

Jay Root is an award-winning journalist who reported for the Tribune from 2011 to 2020. He covered the dramatic collapse of Gov. Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign and went on to write an ebook...