Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders Announces 2016 Presidential Run

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders announced this week that he will be pursuing the presidential candidacy for the 2016 election.

Sanders, a self-proclaimed "democratic socialist," is considered by many to be a longshot for the presidency, with his stance on issues making him more socially and fiscally liberal than fellow Democratic Hillary Clinton.

Sanders kicked off his presidential campaign in Burlington, Alabama, on Tuesday, telling attendees that he plans to start "a political revolution to transform the country -- economically, politically, economically and environmentally."

"With your support and the support of millions of people throughout this country, we begin a political revolution to transform our country economically, politically, socially and environmentally," Sanders told the crowd of supporters who gathered along Burlington's Lake Chaplain on Tuesday to hear the Vermont senator speak.

"Now is not the time for thinking small," he said. "Now is not the time for the same old-same old establishment politics and stale inside-the-Beltway ideas."

Sanders especially focused his speech on shrinking the gap between the rich and the poor in the U.S.

"The gap between the very rich and everyone is wider than at any time since the 1920s. The issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time and it is the great political issue of our time," the senator, who previously served as mayor in Burlington, told the crowd of 3,000.

'Enough is enough," Sanders added.