<P> Senator Bernie Sanders is the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history . He was an independent member of the United States House of Representatives for Vermont - at - large from 1991 to 2007 . Sanders later won the open Senate seat of Jim Jeffords as an independent . Joe Lieberman is a former Democrat who, like Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., ran under a third party (Connecticut for Lieberman Party) in the 2006 election . Though both representatives are technically independent politicians, they often caucus with the Democrats . In 2006, Sanders and Lieberman were the only two victorious independent candidates for Congress . In 2012 Angus King was elected to the US Senate as an Independent from Maine . As of 2016, he has typically caucused with the Democrats . </P> <P> The United States House of Representatives has also seen a handful of independent members . Examples include Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Virgil Goode of Virginia, Frazier Reams of Ohio, and Victor Berger of Wisconsin . </P> <P> In August 2008, there were 12 independents who held offices in state legislatures . There were four state senators, one from Kentucky, one from Oregon, one from Tennessee, and one from New Mexico . The representatives came from the states of Louisiana (two), Maine (two), Vermont (two), and Virginia (two). In the 2008 general elections, Wisconsin State Assemblyman Jeffrey Wood left the Republican Party and won reelection as an independent . After the 2008 primary election, New Mexico State Senator Joseph Carraro left the Republican Party and registered as an Independent . He did not run for reelection . </P> <P> In November 2005, Manny Diaz was elected Mayor of Miami, Florida as an independent . On June 19, 2007, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg switched his party affiliation from Republican to independent . Oscar Goodman, Mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada switched his affiliation to Independent from Democrat in December 2009 . Dan Hollingsworth has won four consecutive elections as an Independent since 1998 for mayor of the small city of Ruston, Louisiana, the home of Louisiana Tech University . </P>

Who has run for president as an independent