Sanders is currently serving his second term as a U.S. Senator after winning re-election in 2012.

Senator Bernie Sanders has officially confirmed that he will once again run as an independent in next year’s re-election for Senate.

“I am an independent and I have always run in Vermont as an independent, while I caucus with the Democrats in the United States Senate. That’s what I’ve been doing for a long time and that’s what I’ll continue to do,” Sanders said in an interview.

Many have wondered about Sanders’ future with the Democratic Party since he ran as a Democratic candidate in the presidential primaries last year.

Recently, Sanders has faced pressure to officially run for Senate as a member of the Democratic Party. Democratic National Committee (DNC) member Bob Mulholland introduced a resolution at the party’s fall meeting that would have demanded both Sanders and Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine, run as Democrats in the future.